Justin
Brown of Middlesboro kissed his 5-month-old daughter, India, after returning from a 15-month
deployment. Brown had seen his daughter only once before. Photo by Pablo Alcala | Staff
Nearly
600 Kentucky soldiers just back from Iraq
were greeted with homemade signs, American flags and deafening cheers and applause from thousands of family members and friends
yesterday at Lexington Center.
The celebration
was part of the Kentucky Army National Guard's largest homecoming weekend ever.
Most of
the returning soldiers looked tired, but more than a few wore big smiles as they got off buses and walked through a human
tunnel of well-wishers, many of them veterans themselves, and into the arms of family members inside the center's Heritage Hall.
"We'll probably just all dog-pile on him," said Tina Wynn of Harlan
County while waiting inside Heritage Hall for her husband, Spec. Walter
Michael Wynn Jr. She held two small American flags while her daughter Abigail, 8, and son Devan, 5, held signs they made to
welcome their daddy home.
David Jackson
of Vine Grove said he planned to get some sleep when he got back home, just moments after he was greeted by his wife, Jennifer,
daughter Alyssa, 17 months, and stepson Jordan, 8.
"I'm definitely going to sleep," he said.
The soldiers,
about 510 members of First Battalion, 149th Infantry, also known as the "Mountain Warriors," and about 70 members of the Heavy
Equipment Transport Platoon, 2123rd Transportation Co., were driven to Lexington after being
debriefed at Camp Shelby in Mississippi.
After the
initial hugs, kisses and tears of happiness, the homecoming moved into Rupp Arena. About 5,000 people were in the stands to
express their thanks for the soldiers' service to their country. More banners,
including several made by schoolchildren in Pulaski County, hung from railings. Many of the soldiers are from Pulaski County.
Among those
on hand were Gov. Ernie Fletcher, U.S. Rep. Hal Rogers, R-Somerset, and Lexington Mayor Jim Newberry.
Bags, each
containing a fancy wood-and-metal plaque, a souvenir hat and a drawing or painting done by a Kentucky school student, sat in front of each soldier's
chair on the arena floor.
"I want
them to feel the love," Maj. Gen. Donald Storm, Kentucky's adjutant general, said after the soldiers marched into the arena and took their seats.
Storm said
military send-offs are not as pleasant as homecomings.
"We've had some gatherings that represented total sacrifice," he said.
He listed
some of the returning soldiers' accomplishments while they were stationed in Iraq, including working with Iraqi schools and protecting of non-military visitors to the Iraq theater.
"Since
9/11," Fletcher said, "the Kentucky National Guard has answered the call like never before." He quoted a psalm about help
that comes from the hills. In this case, he said, help came from the hills of Kentucky.
The governor
told the returning veterans that "in many ways we cannot repay what you have done," but said there were mechanisms in place
for those who might need special assistance.
"Now it
is our turn to serve you," he said.
Rogers told the soldiers that they had made the
hills of Eastern Kentucky look "so doggone good."
Lt. Col.
John Luttrell, commander of the 1-149th, said his soldiers had two goals while in Iraq -- to bring one another back alive, and to be able to say they'd made a difference in the lives of the Iraqi people.
The audience
was shown a video montage of photographs taken by some of the soldiers. Included were photos of smiling Iraqi children, soldiers
at work or posing in groups, and pictures of confiscated enemy weapons.
The soldiers
were deployed to Iraq in October 2006.
No one in the two units was killed, although several were injured, said Guard spokesman Col. Phil Miller.
On Saturday,
about 30 members of 2nd Battalion, 123rd Armor were welcomed home at the National Guard Armory in Bowling
Green after a yearlong deployment to Iraq.
