Jacksonville welcomes home a fighting son

Tuesday a crowd of about 2,000 people stood in the afternoon sun, waiting for wounded war veteran Ben Tomlinson to return home.

At about the same time Tomlinson, 24, was leaving Anniston’s airport in a van with his family, bound for his home. As they traveled along Alabama 21 signs and even a billboard read “welcome home Ben” and people stood along the roadside to welcome him. The Anniston Fire Department displayed its trucks in tribute and firefighters turned out in a show of respect.