Va. guardsmen welcomed home from Iraq

Virginia National Guard Maj. Cotton Puryear put it best:

"Homecomings are wonderful things."

So it was that on a windswept tarmac at Richmond International Airport, Gov. Timothy M. Kaine and the commonwealth's ranking guardsmen welcomed the return of some 180 soldiers after a 10-month tour of duty in Iraq.

Soldiers from the Richmond-based 1710th Transportation Company, 529th Combat Sustainment Support Battalion and 329th Regional Support Group were deployed along with servicemen from the 1173rd Transportation Company from Onancock.

While overseas the soldiers transported supplies to military bases throughout Iraq, conducting 75 missions and traveling more than 900,000 miles. No soldiers were wounded or killed in action.

Jubilant Guard members stepped off a Southwest Airlines jet parked outside the Executive Air Terminal at the airport. Kaine was the first to shake their hands, followed by Maj. Gen. Robert B. Newman Jr., the adjutant general of Virginia.

The soldiers then boarded buses for a formal homecoming ceremony in Emporia, where they were reunited with their families. They were given a motorcycle escort from the airport by the Patriot Guard Riders and American Legion Riders of Virginia.

Contact Jim Nolan at (804) 649-6061 or .