Amid an array of flags, stars, Marine Corps insignia and other patriotic decorations, Cpl. George Sigler's family and friends turned out Aug. 23 to welcome the 22-year-old Marine home to Arbutus.

"Thank the good Lord for getting him home," said Del. Steve DeBoy, whose district includes Arbutus.

DeBoy and fellow District 12A Del. James Malone joined the welcome celebration hosted by Sigler's mother, Joann Reda, in the family's Leeds Avenue backyard.

"This is a great story, because he's a hometown guy who has served our county and our country honorably," DeBoy said.

Malone agreed, noting that Sigler served twice in Iraq, "putting his life on the line."

Tall and muscular at 6-foot-1 and 200 pounds, the corporal quietly accepted Baltimore County Council and Maryland House of Delegates citations as well as Maryland and U.S. flags from the two delegates.

"I really didn't think it was a big deal, what I did," Sigler said of his enlistment with the Marine Corps.

The Baltimore native had moved to Arbutus as a child, attended Arbutus Middle School and graduated in 2004 from the Western School of Technology and Environmental Science.

He joined the Marines while still in high school, but his enlistment was deferred until September 2004.

"I sort of joined on a whim," he said.

The decision to enlist took his mother by surprise, as Sigler had always talked of joining the Navy.

Worried for him, but proud, she wore his name, rank and the Marine insignia imprinted on her T-shirt at the welcome party.

"I did not have very much gray hair when he left," she said. "I do now."

Concern for his safety prompted Reda in 2007 to help organize a Maryland chapter of the Blue Star Mothers of American, a group that supports military service men and women overseas and their families.

A blue star traditionally signifies that a family member is serving in the military, in particular during wartime.

In the past four years, Sigler's assignments included two seven-month tours in Iraq, she said.

"It was good times and bad times, just like any job," he said, adding that his brush with wartime duty left him physically unscathed.

Friends, relatives and neighbors enjoying Reda's picnic fare included Lew Hibbs, commander of the Dewey Lowman American Legion Post in Arbutus, and his wife, Betty.

They met Sigler through his mother and automatically added him to the roster of the post on Sulphur Spring Road, as the American Legion pays first-year dues for all active service men and women.

Catonsville resident Marianne Bytella, president of the Maryland Blue Star chapter and the mother of U.S. Marine Lance Cpl. Joseph Bytella, also attended.

Sigler returned from Iraq in March and was home for two days' leave Aug. 23 from his current assignment to a Marine Corps base in Twentynine Palms, Calif.

He was scheduled for discharge Sept. 25 to three years of reserve duty in Baltimore, an assignment Reda hopes will not be interrupted by a call to active service.

Undecided about a job, Sigler said he had no fear of being called back to Iraq.

"If I do (get called back), I do," he said.

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user comments (1)

user saxyeddiesmama says...

Our family would like to thank family, friends, and The Arbutus Times for their support. It is much appreciated. The Sigler/Reda family

Posted 8:02 AM, 08.28.08

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