Welcome ceremony awaiting soldiers

If you want to give them a heroes’ welcome home, their buses are expected to descend the Washington-Jefferson Bridge as early as 10 a.m. today, head down Jefferson Street and into the parking lot at the Lane Events Center.

“So hopefully we get people to line the streets,” said Capt. Stephen Bomar of the state Military Department.

About 475 Oregon Army National Guard soldiers with the 41st Infantry Brigade of the 2nd Battalion 162nd Infantry, stationed in Iraq and Kuwait since last summer, return home to their families today. They will take part in a demobilization ceremony at the events center with Gov. Ted Kulongoski at 1:30 p.m.

The soldiers were part of a broad demobilization of about 2,700 Oregon soldiers who left last May for two months of training in Georgia before heading to Iraq and Kuwait.

They recently arrived at Fort Lewis, Wash., and will leave there about 6 a.m. today, Bomar said.

They are part of more than 1,100 Oregon Army National Guard soldiers returning to the state over the course of the next week. Hundreds of others have already returned to hometown parades this month. About 325 soldiers will head from Fort Lewis to the Medford area Saturday for a ceremony there, Bomar said. More from the Portland and Medford areas are still in Kuwait and will be home soon, he said.

Kulongoski welcomed home soldiers in Portland on Wednesday and Forest Grove on Thursday, and will also attend Saturday’s demobilization ceremony in Medford.

The soldiers have been providing convoy security for the delivery of goods and services throughout Iraq for the past 10 months, Bomar said. They have guarded about 6,000 convoy missions covering more than 90,000 square miles, he said.

They have escorted 108,000 trucks carrying more than 160 gallons of fuel, and delivered more than 605,000 meals to other soldiers and communities throughout Iraq. The soldiers have also provided personal security, including for Vice President Joe Biden, Bomar said.

And they will be coming home without two of their own. Spc. Taylor Marks of Monmouth, 19, and Sgt. Earl Werner, 38, of Amboy, Wash., were killed Aug. 28 when an explosive struck their convoy.