A soldier received a surprise welcome when he returned to Juneau from deployment in Iraq Friday evening.
Dozens of strangers gathered to greet Specialist Karl Tubbs at the Juneau International Airport upon his wife’s request.
Erica Tubbs explained in an e-mail to a group of local parents that she and her two-year-old son James moved to Juneau several months ago and have no family in town.
She asked members of the parenting group to come to the airport to help her greet her husband and even offered to pay their parking fees.
“We don’t have family here and somebody read that in that e-mail I sent to Juneau parents and they said, ‘yes, you do,’ and that was nice.”
Erica Tubbs also contacted the Alaska National Guard to ask their help in welcoming her husband home.
Several fellow guardsmen came to show their support, including Chief Warrant Officer Four Bill Clutton.
“It’s good to welcome these guys home,” he said. “They’ve done a lot for us and given up a lot, along with their families. So it’s good to say ‘hi,’ say ‘thank you’ and ‘welcome home’.”
Specialist Tubbs has been away from his family for two years, spending one year in training and the other year deployed.
He left when James was two weeks old and has seen little of his son since then.
The Tubbs were overwhelmed by the showing of support. They say the response says a lot about the people of Juneau.
