After 13 months away from her husband Keith, and countless hours of worry, Cindy Gorham of Buxton last week was once again in the same room as her husband, who had just returned from serving in Afghanistan with the Maine Army National Guard.

While he stood in the ranks with fellow members of the 286th Combat Sustainment Support Battalion, waiting to be officially dismissed, she said he spotted her holding a sign.

“He gave me a little wink,” said Cindy Gorham, who was laying eyes on her husband for the first time in over a year. “He looked a little tired but happy.”

It was the beginning of a whirlwind homecoming for Keith Gorham, 46, a specialist who served 10 months in Afghanistan as a mechanic, working 12-hour shifts in the searing heat, aiding the 286th in its mission to provide ammunition, food, fuel, replacement equipment and other logistical help as the military fights al-Qaeda and the Taliban.

Following his reunion with his wife on Jan. 7, the couple was met in North Scarborough by a convoy of fire trucks led by a Buxton police cruiser. The convoy, which also included three fire trucks from Scarborough and two from Buxton, arrived at the Bar Mills Fire Station at 6 p.m. with lights flashing and sirens blaring. Family and friends rushed to embrace their hero, and two men picked him right off the ground.

“I was very overtaken,” Keith Gorham said Monday, as he recalled his homecoming. “Definitely 100 percent more than I thought was going to happen.”

The homecoming in Buxton included Jeremiah Manning of Bristol, who said he and Gorham had been “battle buddies” in Afghanistan. Manning described the Buxton homecoming as “wonderful.”

The homecoming also marked the end of months of daily worry by Cindy Gorham, a paramedic and firefighter with the Scarborough Fire Department. From the time her husband left until his safe return last week, she stayed away from the news as much as possible.

“I wasn’t terrified, but I was worried,” she said Monday.

The Department of Defense reported on Jan. 11 that U.S. forces had suffered 868 deaths in and around Afghanistan with 4,747 wounded. Maj. April Cunningham at the Department of Defense said Monday the casualties in Afghanistan began in October of 2001. Capt. Shannon Cotta, a spokesman for the Maine Army National Guard, said the 286th didn’t suffer any casualties during their deployment.

Gorham and his family stayed in touch by computer. “He kept telling me he was as safe as could be,” Cindy Gorham said.

Keith Gorham declined to reveal locations of where the unit had served in Afghanistan. But he faced the assignment with a soldier’s stoicism, and thought always about his family.

“It was harder for them than me,” he said.

The deployment marked the first time the couple, married 23 years and with five children, was separated for any significant length of time.

“We were high school sweethearts,” Cindy Gorham said. “It was pretty hard.”

While her husband was serving in a war zone where temperatures in the summer exceeded 100 degrees, Cindy Gorham was undergoing an ordeal of her own.

First, she fell through the ice soon after her husband left home for duty. Then, while her husband was deployed, Gorham also suffered the loss of a best friend, who died.

A sign created by their daughter, Joann, 21, on the wall inside the fire station, also decorated with balloons, read, “Welcome home. We survived 12 months of hell.”

Keith Gorham plans to stay in the National Guard for 20 years before retiring. After being out for 16 years, he re-enlisted in 2007 and now has six years of duty.

Self-employed in a home maintenance business, he plans to spend time with his family until the end of June, until work beckons. With free passes from Shawnee Peak due to his service, they plan to spend time skiing.

Gorham said his reception home has been amazing so far. A manager at a restaurant in Bangor picked up his meal tab, and returning soldiers have been otherwise well received.

“People get up and clap,” he said.

Keith Gorham embraces family and friends upon his return after 10 months serving in Afghanistan with the Maine Army National Guard. “I was very overtaken,” Gorham said of the welcoming party. (Staff photo by Robert Lowell)