Posted on 07/16/2004 8:56:59 AM PDT by NormsRevenge
CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. (AP) - More than 600 Marines who saw bloody fighting in Iraq returned home to a flag-waving crowd of relatives and friends. The 1st Battalion, 5th Regiment of the 1st Marine Division was bused to this San Diego County base Thursday after flying from Germany to March Reserve Air Force Base in Riverside.
"This is fabulous," Lance Cpl. Ronald Howard said as he gazed at the 2-week-old son he had never met.
Gloria Barrera of Victorville hugged her son, Lance Cpl. William Barrera.
"God has answered my prayers and brought my son home safe," she said tearfully. "I'll never ask him for anything else."
The battalion was in the thick of fighting this spring in Fallujah. Marines besieged the city west of Baghdad in April after four Americans were ambushed and killed there. Ten Marines and hundreds of Iraqis, many of them civilians, died before the U.S. pulled out and handed security over to an Iraqi volunteer force.
During the fighting, Marines endured suicide attackers, mortars, rocket-propelled grenades and homemade bombs.
"It was constant fighting, nonstop mortaring all the time," Marine marksman Matt Webster said. "You'd try to get some sleep and you'd have to get up because RPGs were flying over you."
Lt. Christopher Ayres took pieces of steel in his right leg when a grenade tore through his amphibious tracked vehicle. He and his crew survived.
"I'm proud of all of them. They all came home," he said.
The fighting was hard on families back home, too.
Olga Perez remembered a telephone call from her son, Cpl. Jason Lee.
"You could hear the gunfire," she said. "I said, 'What's that?' He said: 'It's nothing; they're just shooting at us.' He was cool about it, but I had to start taking heart medicine."
"You knew that a phone call meant he was injured and a knock on the door meant he was gone," said Cheryl Kelley, of Rialto, mother of Navy medic David Kelley. "It was a bad, bad month."
A warm welcome home to our heros, and a hearty thank you for a job well done!
"You could hear the gunfire," she said. "I said, 'What's that?' He said: 'It's nothing; they're just shooting at us.' He was cool about it, but I had to start taking heart medicine."
Welcome home Marines!
Thank you Marines. Well done. Welcome home.
"He said: 'It's nothing; they're just shooting at us."
This made my day. I love it!!! Thank you.
Welcome Home and God Bless You!!
| IT’S DADDY: Shawn Tate of San Clemente is given his 11-day-old son, Shawn Jr., for the first time Thursday by his wife, Rachel, as his mother, Pam, looks on. Tate was one of 1,000 Marines from the 1st Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division. MARK RIGHTMIRE, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER |
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| HOMECOMING: Marines return to Camp Pendleton on Thursday after a seven-month deployment. MARK RIGHTMIRE, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER |
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Hey! Yer old unit!!
Yep, looking forward to seeing some of the fellas this weekend!!!
S/F
Kelly
Welcome home Marines. You were outstanding in Iraq.
Woo-hoo!!! Welcome home our heroes!!!
Bump!
Ya ever bump into my old MAG over there.. MAG-36?
They were in 'Nam maybe a bit before your days there, maybe not.
They were in Okinawa at MCASH Futemna (73-74) when I was stationed there.
A hug and thank you to these Marines!...Welcome Home!
...AMERICA HOME OF THE FREE BECAUSE OF THE BRAVE
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