Posted on 10/04/2007 5:39:40 PM PDT by mdittmar
LATEST: MATTOON - It's official! The 634th soldiers return home Saturday.
Company A, 634th Brigade Support Battalion soldiers will return to Mattoon for a brief welcome home reception Saturday evening at the JFL Football Field, located at Sixth Street and Shelby Avenue, according to a release from the Springfield office of the Illinois Department of Military Affairs.
Approximately 150 members from the local Guard Unit, many from Mattoon and other Central Illinois communities, are returning from duty in Iraq for the past year.
The unit will return to Coles County Memorial Airport at approximately 6 p.m. Saturday. Immediately following their arrival, they will travel in a procession to the JFL Football Field in Mattoon. The procession will follow this route: From the airport, heading west on Route 16/Charleston Avenue, north on 19th Street, east on Broadway Avenue and then north on Sixth Street. The route will end at Sixth Street and Shelby Avenue.
Residents are encouraged to show support for the returning troops by displaying ribbons and flags along the procession route.
The Illinois citizen-Soldiers were called to federal active duty in May 2006 to support Operation Iraqi Freedom. Unit members arrived back at Fort Dix, N.J., Monday for demobilization processing before returning home to Illinois.
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