Welcome Home to New Lenox: U.S. Marine Cpl. Thomas Lohnes

Home from Afghanistan, U.S. Marine Cpl. Thomas Lohnes gets a Merry Christmas welcome home by a parade of well-wishers.

Having spent four years in the U.S. Marine Corps, which included seven months serving in Afghanistan, 22-year-old U.S. Marine Cpl. Tom Lohnes Saturday got a surprise welcome home parade complete with New Lenox Police and New Lenox Fire Protection District escort to a party at the American Legion Post 1977. Lohnes, a 2008 graduate of Lincoln-Way Central High School, was met by family and friends along with a committed group of Soldiers Guardian Angels, the Warrior Watch Riders and the Joliet Marine Corps League. The parade organizer, Tony Marmo of the Soldiers Guardian Angels was the first to formerly welcome the soldier home. The nippy 30 degree temperature failed to keep a crowd of patriots, family and friends away from the designated …

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