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Welcome home for the 113th

Dec-14-2005 » Filed Under: TF Freedom

Welcome home to the 113th ENG (Indiana National Guard), which spent the past year in Mosul operating as part of Task Force Freedom.

Link to Full Article
By Steve Walsh, Post-Tribune staff writer

INDIANAPOLIS — Birthdays by e-mail and early morning calls from Iraq ended at last for half of the families of the 113th Engineer Battalion.

The first contingent of soldiers from the Indiana National Guard unit from Gary, Hammond, Valparaiso and LaPorte touched down late Tuesday at an armory here after nearly a year in Iraq.

David Johnson Sr. of Lake Station had last seen his son, David Jr., in May, during his two weeks of leave. It was just after his humvee had been stuck by a roadside bomb. Johnson, wearing a “Defending our Freedom” T-shirt, pointed to the scars he saw on his son.

“It was under his arm, his neck, on his nose,” he said.

He was there with his wife, Christy. Johnson’s brother, Frankie Ayers, came from Kentucky with his wife and two children.

“It was stressful when you didn’t hear from him for a few day by e-mail. You would wait for those phone calls. They would usually come early in the morning,” he said.

The 113th Engineers arrived in Mosul just after Christmas, a week after 22 soldiers died in a mess hall bombing at their base. They stayed through two Iraqi elections. Though several were injured by car bombs, no one died.


Comments For "Welcome home for the 113th":

Welcome home 113th it is so good to have you all home. My Grandson is stationed in Camp Pendleton in California, and is being sent back to Iraq after spending a year and a half there. I pray that God will bring him home safe and sound again like he did you young men and women. He will stay for seven months. He asked his fiance to marry him in November on Thanksgiving. I pray for him and all young men and women over there fighting. I will be glad when there is some kind of finish to this war. So that we can all come home in peace. Once again welcome back, and God Bless. I cried when you all came home and i knew no one in the 113th. Regardless, i still admired, and was very proud to know that you were from Gary, and that you were over there fighting very hard for something some of us take for granted everyday. May God richly bless each and everyone of you and your families and Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

LOve
Pauline

Posted by: tazdvl416 [TypeKey Profile Page] | December 24, 2005 9:16 PM

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