ASHLAND — This year’s Winter Wonderland of Lights Christmas Parade had all the staples paradegoers have come to expect but a new addition was met with holiday cheers and a few tears on Tuesday night.



Members of the Army National Guard’s 201st Engineer Battalion and their family members were honored as the Winter Wonderland of Lights Parade grand marshals. The battalion has more than 700 members from across Kentucky and several dozen were able to attend the parade.

As the troops and their families passed the crowd broke out into applause and shouted words of thanks and gratitude.

Clair Davis, 51, of Wayne, W.Va., was among those who clapped and shouted her thanks as the 201st came into view, idled in front of her and then passed on the parade route.

“I’m so thankful that we are safe in our own country and I hope it stays that way,” she said.

Davis said she comes to the parade each year. “This is just an annual tradition. Gotta be at the parade. It’s Christmas,” she said.

When she read the 201st was being honored, she said, “I was so thrilled that our community is so thankful for their service where there are so many other places where they are not thanked. I’m just very grateful for the sacrifices they make and their families as well.”

It is a sentiment that was not lost on Rebecca Vansickle, 23, of South Shore. Her husband, Sgt. Brian Vansickle is a member of the 201st and was deployed to Afghanistan last Christmas.

Before the parade even started Rebecca Vansickle said she felt “emotional, real emotional and excited.”

Her voice became tight with emotion, as she explained, “I’m happy at the fact that they included the community and what I call the silent ranks, the family at home standing behind their soldiers.”

Rebecca Vansickle and her three daughters, Brianna, 2, Emilee, 3, Sarah, 5, all participated in the parade. Sarah was dressed in camouflage to match her father.

The family, which will welcome another member in March, is living this year’s festival theme “I’ll be home for Christmas.”

“It is one of the best things,” Rebecca Vansickle said of the upcoming holidays with a wide smile breaking across her face.

“He missed her first Christmas, her first birthday, everything of hers,” she said, motioning toward Brianna, who she held perched on her hip.

“The girls are so excited. They missed all of the holidays last year. They are at the point where they don’t remember a lot but they do remember some of it and they realize he wasn’t here last year.

“To able to wake up Christmas morning and not worry about if he is going to wake up too or not is a wonderful thing,” she said.

Sgt. Robert Fletcher, 37, of Greenup said he was also touched by being honored in the parade.

“It really means a lot knowing that somebody is aware of the things that we have done and are welcoming us home,” he said. “I know that in the past that things like this have happened and soldiers come home and it’s like, ‘yeah, OK.’”

“It is an honor. We weren’t here last year so for the town and the community to honor us this way, it signifies kind of what we are about. We are community based and this is our extended family so we are very honored,” said 201st Command Sgt. Maj. Paul Royster, 48, of Lloyd.

Royster said he too has been looking forward to the parade, seeing it as an opportunity to “thank the community for their support while we were gone.”

We had tremendous support while we were gone,” he said.

Royster, Fletcher and Vansickle said they hope the presence of the 201st will serve as a reminder to the public that there are still thousands of U.S. military deployed and in harms way.

“It’s tough times for other families right now. Remember them and keep supporting them,” Royster said. “We thank them for what they’ve done for us but don’t forget there are still other families affected.”

Royster encouraged individuals to become involved in one of the holiday projects that send gifts, cards and other items to deployed troops.

Anyone, he said, can contact the United Services Organizations to donate money or get involved in a holiday project.

As for Royster’s Christmas, he’s looking forward to “just being here. The warm comfort of home is going to be awful nice this year,” he said.