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Show New Vuh - Thursday. May 13. 2004 - Page 5 Welcome home, 1457th i' : ' -I . . I t . t - 1 f ." , f ; - i '. t - . . . t '. . If f J I i I f -V ... jt t ' 'V.- - a1 1 M j i Many homecoming welcomes were expressed without words. Photo by Kent Davis Photo by Kc-nt Daii A young man takes a ride on his favorite soldier's shoulders. 'Air s l'f fV ' . i - : J ti rrn Welcome signs took at! shapes and forms. f.O0 by Sy'i HooVtOfT Poto by Candoe LwSngsron Sgt. Matthew Grafxim holds tighfty to wife Mindy, while son Maverick keeps his post on dad's shouWers after the arrival of the 1457th Engineef Combat BattaSoa nfefjfe: j ., n ,r i B. ,r , , , ,.-.,f ., . .7,T in.:,,,, r,i Residents fine Pleasant Grove streets to welcome the soldiers home. Hvto by IO wyjrVja North Utah County welcomes soldiers back from war Br CAJOC LvtfiGSTOM Hundreds of people watched, waving American flags and cheering, as a white plane approached, carrying their loved ones. As the plane landed and taxied, the cheers grew kmder and then a momentary momen-tary huih fell over the crowd as service men and women began to deplane. After a 15-nxr.lh tour of duty, the HoTth Engineer Combat Battalion was twm "It's zwemme," Sgt. Rkk Jfettagoe of Lehi said of being hsase. New that he is hark, his plan is simp!, 'Retire." Tea trying to get 03 as a school bus driver, Montague Mon-tague said. And his wife Becky Montague couldn't be happier to have him pursue pur-sue a job that comes with a little more peace of mind than being stationed in Baghdad. "I have a friend I work with and he's a highway patrolman. He said "tell (Rkk to apply and be a highway patrolman.' And I said, 1 don't think so! More than 160 members of the 1457th Engineer Combat Battahon returned to Utah on Wednesday, with half retaraisg that mjra-ir.g mjra-ir.g and the rest arriving in the early e vening. The groyp of construc tion and demolition experts was stationed at the Baghdad Bagh-dad airport. Sgt Matthew Graham of Lehi was welcomed by his wife Mindy and their three children. "I am going to show him how I ride a two wheeler and show him my new friend," said 5-year old Merrick Mer-rick Graham. In addition to the exciting excit-ing things his children had to show him, his wife welcomed wel-comed him home with some changes of her own. "My house is completely different; my wife has moved around furniture and bought new furniture," he said. The 1457th's homecoming homecom-ing was a welcome surprise after family members were told last month that the group's leave would be extended 120 days. A week later, the soldiers were told the extension would not happen and that they would be sent home as planned. About a week before their plane taxied on the runway at the Utah Air National Guard Base in Salt Lake City, soldiers told their families exactly when they would be coming home. Although joyful, coming home will be an adjustment for the soldiers. "It's kind of odd corning home," Graham said. "It was kind of hard because nothing was mine anymore." any-more." Eut the men have U?en granted leave, 41 -days if they didn't take any time off while in Iraq, which will give them time to readjust to life at home. For Sgt. Jim Fillmore and his wife Becky, home is Lehi. As a full-time member of the Utah National Guard, Fillmore will continue his duties as a technician in American Fork until he retires in two and a half year. Bat first he will enjoy his leave. "We are A''mg to have the kidr over and then we're going to away, just me and my wife " His 27 years of service in the Guard aho took him to the Middle Eaxt for Desert Storm, Before that, he served in the Navy during the Vietnam War. While most of the soldiers sol-diers who s-erved in the 1457th have come home in the past month, there is till a detachment of men who volunteered to stay in Kuwait to prepare the group's equipment for shipment back to the U.S. They are scheduled to return this month. f |