January 3, 2010
Gates Firefighters posted on the Elmgrove Rd bridge over Rt 490 as the procession bringing the body of Army Specialist Jason Johnston home to Albion. From the mountains of Afghanistan to the snow of western New York, Army Spec. Jason Johnston came home Sunday. His town was waiting. Johnston, killed the day after Christmas when his foot patrol was attacked with an improvised explosive device, was the first Orleans County soldier killed in action in decades, several longtime residents and city officials said. In a private ceremony at a Greater Rochester International Airport hangar, a casket bearing Johnston's body was placed aboard a hearse. Then, through blowing snow, it was escorted the last 35 miles home.Lining two blocks, area residents — some who knew Johnston only in passing, others not at all — waved flags, saluted or let their presence pay their respects.
