Stadium ceremony welcomes home Ind. guardsmen - Army News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Army Times

Stadium ceremony welcomes home Ind. guardsmen

INDIANAPOLIS — About 4,500 members of the Indiana Air and Army National Guard marched into Lucas Oil Stadium amid cheers of appreciation for their service overseas.

Several thousand people attended Saturday’s welcome-home ceremony, which included speeches from Gov. Mitch Daniels and others, a tribute to fallen and wounded soldiers and musical performances.

“Because of you and men and women like you, you have made the world a better place,” said Linton Mayor Tom Jones, representing mayors around the state. “Your communities felt pride while you were in Iraq, but couldn’t wait for your homecoming. Thank you for a job well done.”

Those honored included some 3,300 members of the Guard’s 76th Infantry Brigade, who returned last fall after a nine-month deployment to Iraq in what was the largest single deployment of Indiana Guard troops since World War II. Two members of the brigade died in Iraq in vehicle rollovers.

As those troops were preparing to leave, they were cheered during a departure ceremony last January in the RCA Dome, just months before that stadium was closed.

“This is all kind of surreal to me because this stadium wasn’t even here when we left,” Sgt. 1st Class Ross Williams said while standing on the floor of the new Lucas Oil Stadium. “It is a great feeling to know people are going to come out and show their appreciation.”

Deployments of Indiana Guard troops continue, with several hundred soldiers either in Iraq or Afghanistan or preparing to head there.

Indiana Adjutant Gen. R. Martin Umbarger acknowledged that many of the soldiers at Saturday’s ceremony had gone on multiple overseas deployments.

“We say thank you again and again for your service,” he said. “You are indeed very special.”

Many of those in the stadium’s stands were family and friends, while children and veterans held American flags as the Guard soldiers marched past.

“I think it meant a lot to them, just to see the people behind them,” said Lynda Skaggs, the mother of a Guard soldier. “So they know when they are over there, that they aren’t forgotten.”