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Highlands Today

Staff Sgt. Salutes Late Granddad With Unusual Flyover

Kathy Waters/Highlands Today

From left: Connie Hodge and Miranda Benton react as Hodge's son, Staff Sgt. Jeffrey Porter, II flies over Monday in Avon Park.

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By Douglas  Carman | Highlands Today

Published: May 5, 2008

AVON PARK — Connie Hodge and her kids expected her son Jeffrey Porter II to "fly over" any minute Monday afternoon. At 12:45, Porter's half-brother, Marc Hodge, got a text message from him.

"He's in Lake Wales, he's on his way," he shouted from his car as he sat there.

Only 15 minutes later, a large, green MH-53/J Pave Low armored helicopter came from the north, swooped down low and circled the family's Pleasant Street home.

Connie Hodge, her children and her mother all ran from their yard and into the street as the helicopter circled the house one time, close enough to see Porter waving from the door, yet too far to rustle the trees. Then as it flew away toward Cocoa Beach, Hodge held her mouth as tears started budding out of her eyes.

"I wanna hug him so bad," she said.

The fly-over was more than just Porter's idea of a flashy homecoming. Last year, Porter's grandfather Alvie Hodge died, but the Air Force staff sergeant was in Iraq and could not make the funeral, Connie Hodge said.

This was his way to salute his grandfather, she said. Porter was still airborne by press time and could not be reached for comment.

His older half-brother, Marc Hodge, was still looking to the sky after Porter's chopper took off.
"Dude, that was beyond my mind," he said after seeing his brother in the air. "I'll probably never see something like that again in my life."

For the family, this was the second time it saw Porter since he returned from Iraq. They got together at MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa Saturday, after Porter finished his eighth year in the Air Force.
Ethel Hodge was nonetheless awed to see her grandson Monday.

"That was so great," she said.

Connie Hodge said that Porter had been in Baquba, northeast of Baghdad, working in special operations. He will be in the reserves but she said she didn't Porter was going for a fifth trip "unless they have to have him."

Josh Benton, Porter's younger half-brother, was simply glad to see his brother back in one piece. He said he was close to Porter before he went took his fourth deployment to Iraq, which lasted for four months.

"It's a big weight lifted off my shoulders, something to thank God about," Benton said.

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