East Quogue Army Hero to Be Welcomed Home from Afghanistan

On Dec. 14, US Army Sgt. David Worrell, of East Quogue, will be coming home just in time for the holidays — his family, who are thrilled, are asking the community to help celebrate. 

Over the past week, Worrell's mom, Karen has been busy making preparations for her son's homecoming, lining up an escort home from Islip's MacArthur Airport and a reception at the Hampton Bays American Legion post where everyone is welcome to attend. 

"This was a hard deploy for him, he lost friends and a lot of people were injured. I want to make this homecoming special for him," said Karen. 

Worrell has been stationed in Afghanistan for the past 9 months — he was deployed to Afghanistan following a tour in Iraq, which started in 2010 and ended in July 2011.

Worrell, the youngest of Karen's 5 children joined the army at the age of 17, enlisting just months after graduating high school. 

Karen said she can't wait to have her son home, though it will only be for a few weeks — after Christmas, she said her son, who she hopes not to be deployed again, has a trip planned to visit a friend in Australia. 

Worrell's flight is expected to land at noon  on Dec. 15 and the community is being asked to gather along Montauk Highway in Hampton Bays at about 1:15 to welcome the soldier home.