PORTSMOUTH, N.H. — The chairman of a group that welcomes home soldiers to Pease International Airport says one of the group’s founders has died.

Pease Greeters Chairman Chuck Cove said Capt. Edmund Johnson died Monday night of breast cancer. He was 84. The Portsmouth Herald said Johnson was a decorated U.S. Marine Corps infantry officer during the Korean War who co-founded the greeters in 2005.

The Pease Greeters are volunteers who attend the landings and takeoffs of all military flights at Portsmouth International Airport at Pease.

The group also mails care packages and organizes volunteer efforts to support veterans, members of the armed services and their families. The co-founders were honored in 2010 by the Military Officers Association of America, and members met with President Bush in 2008.


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