An overnight ceremony is planned to welcome home a group of Waterloo-based soldiers from a tour of duty in Iraq. Around 120 soldiers are due to arrive at the Waterloo Regional Airport around midnight. The unit, part of C-battery First Battalion, 14th Marines, has been providing security and guarding prisoners the past six months in the Al Anbar province of Iraq — one of the country’s most dangerous regions.
A unit spokesman says a brief homecoming ceremony is planned at the airport when the soldiers arrive, then they’ll be taken to a nearby reserve center before being dismissed. The unit is the first of two returning to Iowa this week from overseas duty. On Friday about 80 Iowa National Guard soldiers with the 36-55th maintenance company of Eagle Grove are scheduled to return from a year-long tour of duty in Iraq.