Christmas comes early for Princeton couple

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Tim Welsh of Princeton got a surprise visit from his son, Mitchell, who had been serving with the U.S. Marine Corps in Iraq. (Photo contributed)

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PRINCETON — Tim Welsh of Princeton recently received his Nov. 29 birthday gift and his Christmas gift a few weeks early. His gift wasn’t wrapped in a box but came adorned in a Marine’s dress uniform.

A week ago, Welsh was called to the switchboard at Perry Memorial Hospital, where he works, and was told someone was waiting outside to see him.

Welsh went outside and saw his mother, Georgia, and his brother, Mark, who was carrying two cameras. Welsh asked them what they were doing there, and they told him to walk around the corner of the building.

When he did, Welsh saw his son, Mitchell, standing tall in his dress Marine blues with all his ribbons, recently returned from eight months in Iraq.

“I was just flabbergasted. My mouth just dropped,” Welsh said. “What a homecoming! It was pretty emotional. It’s been a year, since I’ve seen him.”

Tim took his son around the hospital to see his friends and co-workers, many of whom knew about Mitchell and his deployment to Iraq. Welsh’s mother had called Tim’s boss to set up the special homecoming surprise at the hospital.

Tim and Mitchell then went to Tiskilwa to surprise Tim’s wife and Mitchell’s mother, Jan, who works at Reagan Middle School. It was another amazing, happy reunion, Tim said.

Mitchell had returned to his base in California about two weeks ago from Iraq. He didn’t have plans to come back to Princeton until his grandmother and uncle decided to buy his plane tickets.

Tim said his mother told him flying Mitchell back to Princeton was Tim’s birthday and Christmas gifts put together. It was the best possible gift, he said.

Mitchell, who is 21 years old, has another 10 months left in the Marines and is expected to finish out that time in California. At this point, he is considering the possibility of re-enlisting. Ever since he was a little boy, Mitchell has wanted to be a Marine, Tim said.

Whatever his son’s decision about re-enlisting, Tim said he will support it. But as a parent, those eight months in which his son was in Iraq were very tough times, Tim said.

“It was so hard mentally. I was a wreck,” Tim said. “But we did lots of praying.”

Having his son back in the country and getting a surprise visit from him, has definitely made this Thanksgiving and Christmas season extra special, Tim said.

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