Video: Returning Cinnaminson Soldier Gets Hero's Welcome

"It is amazing to have him home," said his mother, Terry. "His sisters and his father and I—there’s no words for how happy we are that he’s home safe."

The 2011 Cinnaminson High School graduate was also greeted by a particularly special guest, local World War II veteran Leo Carr, who shared a few words with McGinnis at the start of the gathering.

Committeeman Don Brauckmann, who himself served as a Marine, was touched by the display.

"Only about 1 percent of Americans get to serve in our Armed Forces, so the rest of the 99 percent should always be thankful for them and what they do," he said. "This is a great thing for the Township of Cinnaminson, to come out and honor somebody that is representative of that 1 percent."

Freeholder Joseph Howarth presented McGinnis with a military service medal, one of roughly 200 the county gave out on Veterans Day.

"It’s not really that big of a thing as far as what it’s made of. It’s what it stands for, that’s going to carry the weight and pull this young man right down to the ground," said Howarth. "Because it stands for everybody that’s ever walked in a uniform, that’s come before him, that’ll come after him."

McGinnis, visibly humbled, was a man of few words, thanking the crowd for its support and saying, "The word hero—none of us think we’re heroes. No one put a gun to our head and told us to do this. We all volunteered for it."

Cinnaminson's last "welcome home" celebration for a member of the military was in July 2011, when '07 graduate Michael Forgash Jr. returned from a yearlong deployment as an Army medic in Iraq.

(Video caption: Army Pfc. Ryan McGinnis, of Cinnaminson, says a few words after being welcomed home by a crowd of well-wishers, and organizer David Silver, of Operation Yellow Ribbon of South Jersey, reminds the crowd why they're there.)