BANGOR – The 112 members of the 152nd Field Artillery unit who served in Iraq will arrive at Bangor International Airport between 1 and 2 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 13.
The soldiers will be bused from the Maine Air National Guard base to the Bangor Civic Center, where they will be reunited with family members and friends and be welcomed home.
Operation Community Support spokesman Thomas “Skip” Chappelle urged well-wishers to line the bus route with flags and banners. The route will be down Union Street to Main Street to the civic center.
The unit was mobilized in January 2004 in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom and performed detainee operations at Abu Ghraib Prison in Iraq for the past 12 months.
Due to numerous security restrictions, no family or friends will be permitted at the air base. Reunions will take place at the civic center.
More than 100 Maine soldiers from the Army Reserve’s 619th Transportation Company have returned to the United States and will be coming back to Maine on Monday.
Members of the Auburn-based 619th are being debriefed at Fort Drum, N.Y., according to Army officials.
The 619th, a heavy truck unit, was sent to Iraq in January 2004. The unit has 155 soldiers, 106 of whom are from Maine. Family members plan to be at the Lewiston Armory to welcome the bus when they arrive after 4 p.m.
“Fortunately, there have been no serious injuries and, thank God, no fatalities,” said Robert J. Maddocks, father of Jason Maddocks of Readfield.
The biggest Maine unit serving in Iraq, the 133rd Engineer Battalion, is scheduled to return this spring. All told, more than 500 soldiers from the unit arrived in Iraq last February. Joining them were some members of the 152nd Maintenance Company.
Additional members of the 152nd Maintenance Company shipped out last month to Fort Bliss, Texas, and are expected to serve overseas.
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