Welcome Home, Spenser

Private First Class Spenser Bosch landed at T.F. Green Airport in Warwick at around 10 p.m. last night to the warm embraces of his parents and sister.

He said he was glad to be home.

Bosch, 19, a member of the 101st Airborne Division, just served on a deployment to Afghanistan and was looking forward to coming home after spending the past week in debriefing.

He was apparently unaware of what was waiting for him when he got close to his home in Middletown.

There were hints, though, when he started getting Facebook messages over the weekend from people saying things like "welcome home!" and "welcome back to Middletown."

"How do they know I'm from Middletown?" he asked.

Little did he know that after he got back in the car with his family and set off towards Aquidneck Island, a police escort was waiting for him at Newport Grand to lead the family back to their Maple Avenue home.

And along Maple Avenue, Bosch would soon find a contingency of off-duty firefighters and dozens more who heeded the call to make Bosch's return a special one and lined the streets with banners, flags and lots of support and encouragement.

It all started about two days ago when Bosch's mother, LeAnn Bosch, sent a humble email asking for some flags and signs for her yard.

The story soon spread across the the community and within 24 hours, their yard started collecting flag after flag. People stopped by all day Saturday and Sunday, bringing flags and signs. And most brought stories with them.

"One man dropped off six flags, each one representing someone in his family who served. Another little boy made a sign and showed up in an Army uniform," LeAnn Bosch said. 

One sign really hit home. 

It was from a former teammate on the Middletown High School unified basketball team — a special needs student who obviously has held on to his memories of Bosch's time with him at Middletown High School.

"You've always been my hometown hero," the sign reads. "From being one of the first to play unified basketball at MHS. . . to protecting me while serving our country!"

"Thank you Spenser," it said. "For being so brave and a true leader."