Ahmad Siddiqi got here to Colorado after he and his household safely made it out of Afghanistan. The Henkel household in Broomfield had been serving to them settle in.
BROOMFIELD, Colo — Like many households, Scott and Heidi Henkel of Broomfield have their Thanksgiving traditions, like having a smoked turkey alongside Italian meals like lasagna and tortellini.
However this 12 months marked the beginning of a brand new custom.
“I’m pumped. That is going to be nice,” Scott Henkel mentioned earlier than the Thanksgiving meal.
The veteran and former U.S. Military captain served in lots of of missions in Afghanistan together with his group years in the past. Thursday, they got here collectively for a Thanksgiving celebration years within the making.
“We talked about it quite a bit once we had been abroad, about considered one of lately we’ll get the group again collectively,” Henkel mentioned. “We rode in the identical truck collectively – all of us – lots of and lots of of instances.”
On his group was Afghan interpreter Ahmad Siddiqi, who simply got here to Colorado after he and his household safely made it out of Afghanistan in late August following the takeover of the Taliban.
Siddiqi and his household moved to the world a month later with the assistance of the Henkel household.
“We’ve all the time had a blended Thanksgiving, so now we’re going to have an Italian, American, Afghan Thanksgiving,” Henkel mentioned.
When the Siddiqis arrived, there have been emotional embraces between the veterans.
Siddiqi was all the time conversant in Thanksgiving when he was with Henkel in Afghanistan, however by no means like this.
“It’s an enormous Thanksgiving as a result of I’ve colleagues right here with me after 15 years,” Siddiqi mentioned. “Truly, it’s a blessing. It is a blessing, yeah.”
Now, Henkel hopes they’ll have a good time Thanksgiving like this yearly.
“Model new custom – we’re going to do that yearly,” Henkel mentioned. “It’s simply, that is superior. That is all the pieces that Thanksgiving needs to be.”
Siddiqi mentioned total, he was blissful to have his household for this present day.
“Having my household, having the larger household, prolonged household,” he mentioned. “New custom, precisely, yeah. However it’s an excellent custom to have. Folks round one desk, having fun with the meals and having fun with the nice recollections.”
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