Returning to a second home
Above, James Porter was met with hugs and tears from coworkers at the Moses Lake Clinic Thursday. Porter spent a year in Iraq with the 1-161st and returned home Tuesday. Below, receptionist Zana Parent peeks behind a window display of Porter that stood in the radiology department during his absence.<br>Brandon Swanson/ Columbia Basin Herald
1-161st soldier heads back to workplace to cheers and tears
MOSES LAKE — After a year in Iraq serving with the National Guard 1-161st, James Porter returned to his family Tuesday. His second family, his co-workers at the Moses Lake Clinic, had to wait a little longer.
They were ready for him.
"We were all anxious to get him back," said receptionist Mary Fischer during a party for him Thursday afternoon.
Porter, a radiologist at the clinic, was greeted with hugs and laughs and tears from co-workers and patients.
"Even the patients remember him," Fisher said.
Too inundated with well wishers, Porter explained later via e-mail how supportive the Moses Lake Clinic was to him while he served abroad.
"Words can't describe how thankful I am that I work there," he said. While mobilized in the National Guard, Porter said he would have been making less money than at the clinic, so the clinic stepped in and made up the difference in pay while he served. "They really helped my family make ends meet while I was overseas."
But Porter said the contribution was much more than financial.
"The clinic has really made Lisa and the boys feel like a part of the clinic family, by including them in all the clinic functions and such," he said. "My year in Iraq would have been a lot more stressful if I didn't know that my family was being supported. I will always be thankful for being a part of the Moses Lake Clinic."
Porter was asked several times at the party how he was.
"I'm a lot better now," he said.