It was the closing ceremonies of the 11th Welcome Home Initiative, meant to help those suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, and the former members of the armed forces who had experienced the horrors of battle, both on the field and at home, were receiving a standing ovation of support from uniformed school girls, the Greenwich Color Guard, members of the Patriot Riders and the community.

 As they made their way to their seats to the tune of Lee Greenwood "God Bless the USA" and words of "Welcome Home! Thank you!" projected on three overhead screens, some of the veterans seemed overwhelmed, with a few wiping away tears while others were smiling broadly. For three days, these men and one woman - some with spouses - shared painful memories, prayed together and learned about resources that could help them survive their ordeals with PTSD and thrive. "Some of you came in very dejected, very broken, with obvious burdens upon your shoulders, and the joy of the Lord now is upon you as the Lord has healed you, redeemed, refreshed and set you free," the Rev. Nigel Mumford said to the veterans seated in the first two rows.

 The ordained Episcopal priest, who also is the director of healing ministries at Christ the King and head of the Welcome Home

Initiative team, understands the misery these veterans have experienced. In the 1970s, Mumford was a drill instructor for Britain's Royal Marines and watched a friend get shot and others blown apart by bombs. Then, after Mumford completed his year in combat, he received word that four recruits he believed he had led through basic training were killed.He said he always was fearful of losing soldiers who were his responsibility, and he blamed himself for the deaths, even though the men were killed as a result of terrorist activity. The death of the soldiers was the last straw for Mumford. He was so traumatized by the savages of war, he was hospitalized and couldn't utter a sound for a week

 He stuttered badly for six months after.  "(PTSD) was called ‘shell shock' back then," Mumford said. "I was a mess, but God brought me through."

 Mumford has since learned the soldiers killed were someone else's recruits.

Giving thanks

 An integral component of the event is when Mumford prays for each veteran individually on the final morning. He said he often anoints the trigger finger or thumbs with the sign of the cross.

 "It's more than therapeutic. The Bible says, ‘Thou shall not kill,' and a lot of veterans beat themselves up; they think they've broken one of the Ten Commandments. Also, in the Bible, it says, ‘There's a time to kill and a time to heal' - and we have to reconcile that, particularly with certain denominations that are so locked on to that. The burden and guilt takes so many lives," Mumford said.

 Vietnam veteran Joe Yeager traveled from Utica for the three-day retreat. He said he has been plagued for 30 years by gruesome images of a man who had the top of his head blown off and his eyes sucked out with an M79 grenade rifle. Yeager had participated in numerous counseling programs through the Marine Corps but said he either left in the same condition he started or had only "superficial" healing. "At the military, they told me how to cope, but they couldn't get to the root of the problem. Here they encouraged me to go back into that situation and ask where Jesus was. I saw him in the heavens. They said when you see (the images), see Christ. It takes the power (of the memory) away. I'm not dwelling on it, you know what I mean?" Yeager said. "I see tangible stuff I can use. I'll see how it pans out." 

Bryan Ashley-Selleck, 43, came to the retreat with his fiancée, Marcy Smith. The Middlebury, Vt., man is disfigured on one side of his face from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. He had not only been haunted by the Gulf War but by memories of abuse that began when he was a toddler. Ashley-Selleck said he managed to graduate from high school and enter the Marine Corps. He married and had two children, but then he "lost everything." "There was anger, all that anxiety, and the combat part of it just reared its ugly head. I was homeless, I was eating food out of a garbage can. I lost my job, I lost my wife," Ashley-Selleck said. He slowly started to get back on track, returning to church, and he met Smith a year ago.

Smith said attending the retreat with her fiancé was "crucial" to their relationship. "I have no experience of abuse myself or in my family, and we've had things come up that have been difficult to deal with, like anger and frustration and learning what the source of that is. I've had to learn a whole new world I've never been exposed to. I've always known God is there helping us all the time, but even sometimes in that difficulty you can find yourself turning away from God, that this person is your enemy," Smith said. "This (retreat) helps tremendously." 

The Welcome Home Initiatives have drawn veterans to Greenwich from as far away as Hawaii and Japan, and the program has been duplicated in England and Australia.

 Mumford hopes to make a documentary video other churches can use to hold such retreats in their own communities.

 "We really need to pay attention so that we don't pass on PTSD to our children. There could be a new generation of traumatized children because their mummies and daddies have gone off to war," Mumford said. "We need to be very compassionate and acknowledge these men and women. If we can love and thank them, it can change someone's life."