By Kevin Lavery, WKAR News
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/wkar/local-wkar-918961.mp3
Grand Ledge, MI – About 70 Michigan Army National Guard soldiers have returned home from a nearly year-long deployment to Iraq.
AUDIO:
Hundreds of anxious people came to the Grand Ledge Armory to await the return of their loved ones. The 238th Aviation Battalion Charlie Company was home from a 10-month mission in Iraq that saw them perform more than 250 medical evacuation flights.
Don Herbert proudly displayed an American flag signed by everyone in his son's unit.
"He was a paramedic on a helicopter crew just south of Baghdad someplace, and that's the flag they sent me and I have it hanging up at home," Herbert said.
A giant hangar door was opened, and a bus came into view. The cheers erupted even before the first soldier walked in.
Sergeant Jon Sheehan beamed as he held his son Jack, who's turning four in a few days.
"I'm sure we're quite excited and glad to see each other," says Sheehan.
This was the second military ceremony in two days in Grand Ledge. On Monday, hundreds of people gathered to pay their respects to Specialist Bradley Rappuhn, a local high school graduate who was killed August 8 in Afghanistan.