GENOA – Matthew Ruchti got two big surprises Saturday.

The 1988 Genoa-Kingston High School graduate, who is retiring after 24 years in the U.S. Air Force, was driving from his base in Alaska to his new home outside of Dayton, Ohio. He had planned to stop for a couple of days in Genoa to visit family and old friends when someone rear-ended a trailer he was pulling just north of Madison, Wis., early Saturday morning.

Ruchti, who earned the rank of master sergeant, was greeted with an even bigger surprise when he finally arrived in Genoa – a military motorcycle escort that guided him to the Genoa Veterans Home, where a reception awaited.