Free At Last!!!!!!!

Guardsmen gather to ‘turn out the horses’
By Ida Brown / senior staff writerThe Meridian Star
MERIDIAN —
With his arm nonchalantly propped against the post of a newly installed fence, Norris Galatas smiled as he watched his wife, Janis, try to coax Cinnamon, the youngest of his three horses, back to the front gate.“Just look at them,” Galatas said, his smile broadening as the other two horses — Mandy and Ruffian — reluctantly, but gradually, began to follow. “They’re free now; free to run and enjoy all of this space.” “They don’t know what to do with all this space to run,” he said of the horses, which are more like children to the Collinsville couple.“For most of their lives, they’ve been boarded up at the (Lauderdale County) Agri-Center or in a small area at home. But now, they can be free.”And so can his wife. With a safe haven for the horses at their home, she can now accompany Galatas when he goes to Walter Reed Army Medical Center in May for his next round of surgeries.On Tuesday, the couple held a ribbon-cutting and “turning out the horses” ceremony to commemorate completion of the fence — a project started a few weeks before Galatas, a sergeant first class in the Mississippi Army National Guard’s 150th Combat Engineer Battalion, deployed to Iraq in 2005. Galatas was one of five soldiers from Mississippi and Alabama wounded in April of that year when their vehicle passed over an improvised explosive device. One soldier died and Galatas was severely injured. Except for occasional month-long stays, he has been at Walter Reed since shortly after the attack.Before he was called to duty, Galatas had 87 fence posts in the ground. With her husband gone, Janis Galatas had to find a way to finish the project. Last summer, Janis set up a booth at the Queen City Fair to raise money to finish the fence so she could go to Walter Reed for her husband’s birthday later that month. A photo of Janis at her booth was published in The Meridian Star — where LeAnn and Terry Sande saw it.“They said, ‘Let’s help this woman get this fence up,’” Janis said.A few weeks later, the first of what would become several “fencing days” was held.“There were about 25 people out here and we got about a third of the fencing done,” she said.Additional support came through the Web site www.webofsupport.com, maintained by a Guardsman who served in Iraq. Through the Web site, Janis met Claudette and Aubrey Ray of Sturgis. The Rays came to Collinsville to help put wire on the fence.“Mr. Aubrey is retired from the Army and his son (Staff Sgt. Franklin Ray) is a guardsman,” she said.For six weeks, members of the 114th Field Artillery Regiment in Starkville, Columbus and Louisville have traveled to Collinsville to work on the fence. Guardsmen arrived in the morning to begin work on the project — digging holes, driving nails and putting up fence and wire.“We’ve come once a week to give to Sgt. 1st Class Galatas,” said Staff Sgt. Ray. “I was stationed there in Iraq with him, so it has even deeper meaning to me to be here to help out.”Clearly moved by the undertaking, Galatas said it was more than he deserved.“The Lord has provided me with these wonderful people to help accomplish a dream I’ve always had,” he said. “I could have done it over a long period of time, but with their help I’ve been able to accomplish a longtime dream. Saying ‘thank-you’ just doesn’t seem to be enough for such a wonderful thing.”

Janis Email On The Subject Follows:

Wednesday, April 5, 2006

The last panel of fence for the horses was put up yesterday and it was
wonderful! The soldiers signed the last fence post and Norris hammered
the last staple in! We turned out the horses and then when the news
people showed up, we had to try to catch them again! The cameras were
on time...the horses just wanted out so I let them go so they wouldn't
tear up our new trailer! LOL! Mandy and Ruffian were un-catchable, but
I got Cinnamon. So Paula got a great pic of the troops in the
background and Cinnamon rearing to go...literally! Mandy and Ruffian
had gone behind the treeline and out of sight...Cinnamon was like a wide
eyed race horse ready to run...when I turned her loose, she went
galloping up the hill to find them! They are so happy! Norris was
happy that he didn't cry on camera...and neither did I! He told the
troops that he would have eventually got the job done, but that they
made it happen sooner...the real truth is that, without the soldiers,
the project would never have been finished. They spent hundreds of
man-hours and it took them working in teams to organize, train, and work
well together. The two-man augers were a challenge along the treeline
with all the roots and vines! Like soldiers, they stayed at the task
until the mission was accomplished. I even caught the "Blackhorse
Regiment" patch on one uniform! So part of the 2/11th ACR was
represented as well as the 2/114th FA! I am going to miss seeing them!
Saturday we plan to go back and put up the stock tank and shelter and
then we can leave them out on their pasture. Thank you LeAnn and Terry
for starting this project, and thank you Aubrey and Claudette for
getting the soldiers out there and finishing it. There are no words to
express our gratitude and sincerest thanks. We'll be checking on Aubrey
later on, and we are planning a trip up there to visit! (I'll have to
"tour" the Armory! LOL!) Love you. Janis and Norris Galatas

Special Thanks you's to the Meridian Star for a great story and Paula
Merritt for a great pic! Ida Brown was new to the Galatas story, and
she did a great job covering it from scratch! Thank You Suzanne Monk
for your friendship and support. WTOK-TV sent Sydney Lavine with the
camera and he did a great job of shooting video, but I guess it was a
busy news day and it was shown only once on the 6pm news. I sat with
Sydney and had a great conversation....these guys are top notch! We
hope the next time we're in the news is at the end of the surgeries when
Norris can come home for good!...and maybe the MS Army National Guard
says he can remain a soldier! That would be the icing on the cake.
Thank you Sheila McLain, Sydney Lavine, Renee' Lasalle, Chris Brenneman,
and Wade Phillips for covering our story.

For those who are keeping scrap-books, here is the best story. Please
send this link to Colonel Huffman, Major Bowman, and Tim Powell at
Public Affairs. Thank you, MSARNG! Janis