thedrifter
04-05-06, 05:43 AM
BREAKING: Some Waterloo Marines back in U.S.
By PAT KINNEY, Courier Business Editor
WATERLOO --- The first contingent of Waterloo's Marine Reserve unit has returned to the United States from Iraq.
About 35 members of Waterloo's C Battery, 1st Battalion 14th Marines are back, with the rest of the contingent expected to arrive shortly, unit spokesman and 1st Sgt. James Kirkland said Tuesday afternoon. He is in Twentynine Palms, Calif., where C Battery members are returning.
Once all 120 C Battery members are back in the U.S., Kirkland said, a charter will be arranged for the unit to arrive in Waterloo next week. He has said C Battery is expected to return nest Wednesday. "That can always change," he cautioned.
Kirkland will be relaying word on unit members' Waterloo homecoming to family members through volunteer support contacts once those arrangements are made, as well as the general public.
The C Battery Marines have spent the last six months in Iraq guarding prisoners and performing military police work, Kirkland said. They have been in Al Anbar Province in Iraq since October. Some unit members also served in what was then Delta Battery in Kuwait during the 1991 Persian Gulf War.
Kirkland also confirmed that Waterloo's C Battery is disbanding sometime in September as part of the federal Base Closure and Realignment Commission's recommendations. Kirkland said C Battery members will have the opportunity to join other Marine Reserve units in Iowa, as well as other options.
Battery members will be informed of their options following their return later this month. Kirkland said, however, that getting home from Iraq is the first thing on battery members' minds, and spirits are high.
Waterloo has had a Marine Reserve unit since the end of World War II, with a long history of service. Several of its members, many of them World War II veterans, were called back to active duty in the Korean War and served in combat.
In the 1991 Gulf War, Waterloo's Delta Battery was the first U.S. field outfit to enter Kuwait during the Allied invasion to retake the oil-rich country from Iraq. They confronted Iraq's most trained combat troops, and performed so well they were allowed to bring back a Chinese-made Iraqi howitzer, still located at the Hultquist-Fry Reserve Center on Burton Avenue. Battery members were among the lead units in the 1991 My Waterloo Days parade.
"It's a long history of Marines around the area," Kirkland said.
Contact Pat Kinney at (319) 291-1484 or Pat.Kinney@wcfcourier.com
Ellie
By PAT KINNEY, Courier Business Editor
WATERLOO --- The first contingent of Waterloo's Marine Reserve unit has returned to the United States from Iraq.
About 35 members of Waterloo's C Battery, 1st Battalion 14th Marines are back, with the rest of the contingent expected to arrive shortly, unit spokesman and 1st Sgt. James Kirkland said Tuesday afternoon. He is in Twentynine Palms, Calif., where C Battery members are returning.
Once all 120 C Battery members are back in the U.S., Kirkland said, a charter will be arranged for the unit to arrive in Waterloo next week. He has said C Battery is expected to return nest Wednesday. "That can always change," he cautioned.
Kirkland will be relaying word on unit members' Waterloo homecoming to family members through volunteer support contacts once those arrangements are made, as well as the general public.
The C Battery Marines have spent the last six months in Iraq guarding prisoners and performing military police work, Kirkland said. They have been in Al Anbar Province in Iraq since October. Some unit members also served in what was then Delta Battery in Kuwait during the 1991 Persian Gulf War.
Kirkland also confirmed that Waterloo's C Battery is disbanding sometime in September as part of the federal Base Closure and Realignment Commission's recommendations. Kirkland said C Battery members will have the opportunity to join other Marine Reserve units in Iowa, as well as other options.
Battery members will be informed of their options following their return later this month. Kirkland said, however, that getting home from Iraq is the first thing on battery members' minds, and spirits are high.
Waterloo has had a Marine Reserve unit since the end of World War II, with a long history of service. Several of its members, many of them World War II veterans, were called back to active duty in the Korean War and served in combat.
In the 1991 Gulf War, Waterloo's Delta Battery was the first U.S. field outfit to enter Kuwait during the Allied invasion to retake the oil-rich country from Iraq. They confronted Iraq's most trained combat troops, and performed so well they were allowed to bring back a Chinese-made Iraqi howitzer, still located at the Hultquist-Fry Reserve Center on Burton Avenue. Battery members were among the lead units in the 1991 My Waterloo Days parade.
"It's a long history of Marines around the area," Kirkland said.
Contact Pat Kinney at (319) 291-1484 or Pat.Kinney@wcfcourier.com
Ellie