Bluefield Daily Telegraph, Bluefield, WV

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October 6, 2009

Virginia soldiers come home

By CHARLES OWENS

RICHLANDS, Va. — After more than nine months of service in Iraq, several Southwest Virginia-based soldiers are on their way back home.

The local citizen soldiers with the 1033 Engineer Support Company in Richlands were scheduled to return home Tuesday at the Tri Cities Airport in Bristol. The soldiers were expected back in Richlands later in the day, according to Ginger Branton, executive director of the Richlands Area Chamber of Commerce.

The 38 local troops were assigned to the 180th Engineer Company last year as part of a deployment in the Global War on Terror. The soldiers spent the last nine months in Iraq where they conducted more than 20 engineer missions, including training compound improvements for the Iraqi Special Forces, site preparation for a bridge installation and the reopening of the last stretch of Iraqi Highway 1, the Associated Press reported Tuesday.

Branton said businesses across Richlands are being asked to tie yellow ribbons at their storefronts as a show of appreciation for the local soldiers.

“I have e-mailed everyone and asked them to put up a yellow ribbon,” Branton said. “My ribbon (at the chamber office) is yellow, and it has red, white and blue in the middle.”

Branton said the Richlands community is thrilled to have the local soldiers back home.

“It’s always great when we bring our troops home,” Branton said. “Let’s hope they don’t have to go back.”

Another group of Tazewell County soldiers who left Richlands in November for deployment in Afghanistan are still overseas. Their return home date is not known at this point.

— Contact Charles Owens at cowens@bdtonline.com

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