More than 2,500 people filled a gymnasium in Marshall, Minnesota on Sunday in welcoming home a National Guard unit that returned from a year of duty in Iraq.
The Company A 1-151 Field Artillery Unit returned to the United States last week and spent five days at Fort Dix, N.J., for debriefing. The soldiers flew to Sioux Falls, S.D., before busing to Marshall on Sunday afternoon.
Major Gen. Larry Shellito, the adjutant general of the Minnesota National Guard, was among those welcoming the soldiers home.
Another was Janessa Nelson, who was 15 months old when her father, Jason, left for Iraq with the unit Sept. 20, 2004. "Daddy's coming home," said Janessa, perched on her mother Michele's shoulders as the two waited in a Wal-Mart parking lot for the four buses carrying the soldiers to arrive.
For Sgt. Scott Irwin, the Iraq deployment was his second overseas assignment. After returning from Bosnia, he was home for just four months before his unit was deployed to Iraq.
"I would do it all over again in a minute, but hopefully I'll be home a lot longer this time," he said. "Being home again is fantastic. The main thing is we came back with everyone we left with."
Irwin's 8-year-old daughter, Florence, sat on his shoulders, her arms wrapped tightly around his neck.
(Copyright 2005 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
