Wounded soldier to be welcomed home Friday

A welcome-home reception for a wounded Vancouver soldier is being planned for Friday afternoon.

A motorcycle contingent of Patriot Guard Riders will escort Pfc. Cory Doane and his mother, Rhonda Doane, from a Portland airfield to the family’s home in Cascade Park.

Doane was serving in Afghanistan as a member of the U.S. Army’s 10th Mountain Division when he was injured by an improvised explosive device in July.

Doane lost his right leg and suffered internal injuries. He has undergone more than a dozen operations and is being treated at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center.

He will get to spend a few days at home for Thanksgiving — his first visit to Vancouver since being wounded — before returning to the Washington, D.C., area to continue his rehabilitation treatment.

Lynn Vaughn, Patriot Guard ride captain, said the group is asking community members to greet the wounded soldier with U.S. flags at the Doanes’ home on Southeast 23rd Circle and along the route.

The Patriot Guard route will be east on McGillivray Boulevard, south on Talton Avenue and east on Angus Street, which turns into Southeast 139th Avenue.

People should park on Angus or 139th Avenue, Vaughn said.

The group is scheduled to arrive at the Doanes’ home between 2:45 p.m. and 3:30 p.m., Vaughn said.

The Doanes are being flown home by volunteer pilots on a flight funded by donations, Vaughn said.

Contributions to the Doane family can be made at a Vancouver-based nonprofit — http://AHeroWasHere.org — that supports wounded service members.