Holiday tree lighting brings season to Bragg

by Spc. Armando R. Limon
10th PCH

	photo by Spc. Armando R. Limon/10th PCH Sgt. 1st Class Jeffrey Loehr, 5th Battalion, 73rd Calvary Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, left, his wife Nicole and their six sons, winners of the 2009 Family of the Year, pulled the switch to light the Holiday Tree. The Holiday Tree Lighting ceremony took place at the Main Post Parade Field, Dec. 3.

Eager Families came to see Fort Bragg’s Annual Holiday Tree Lighting ceremony to welcome the holiday season at the Main Post Parade Field, Dec. 3.

The master of ceremonies for the tree lighting was Gilbert Baez, Eyewitness News 11 television reporter from Fayetteville.

Baez, a former Ranger-qualified Soldier stationed at Fort Bragg, thanked the various sponsors of Fort Bragg’s Family and Morale, Welfare and Recreation for their support of the event.

The holiday menorah, a nine-armed candelabrum that symbolizes the Jewish holiday, Hanukkah, was lit prior to the lighting of the holiday tree.

Chaplain (Maj.) Ira Ehrenpreis, garrison rabbi for the Fort Bragg Jewish community, along with his ventriloquist puppet, Col. Chaim, explained the history of Hanukkah to the crowd.

Following Ehrenpreis’ presentation of Hanukkah, Maj. Gen. Daniel Allyn, deputy commanding general, XVIII Airborne Corps and Fort Bragg, introduced the Loehr Family, the winners of the 7th Annual Fort Bragg Family of the Year, who lit the holiday tree.

Sgt. 1st Class Jeffrey Loehr, 5th Battalion, 73rd Calvary Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, his wife Nicole and their six children, pulled the oversized light switch that lit the holiday tree.

As a final treat that evening, Santa Claus rode in a fire truck onto the parade field. Children stood in line for a chance to sit on Santa’s lap to tell him what they wanted for Christmas.

The first to sit on St. Nick’s lap was Nicola Riley and her brother, Jack, while their mother, Jennifer, wife of Sgt. 1st Class Richard Riley, a military policeman, with the 4th Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, stood beside them.

Both Nicola and Jack asked Santa Claus for their father, who is currently deployed in Afghanistan, to come home soon.