TYRONE, BLAIR COUNTY - The 56th Stryker Brigade deployed for Iraq in September 2008.  Some National Guard Members were able to see their family over the holidays right before the unit deployed for Iraq in January 2009.

The was the largest deployment of the Pennsylvania National Guard since World War 2. 

Yesterday hundreds of soldiers arrived in Blair County and Huntingdon County.  Today 84 soldiers saw their families for the first time. A bus proceeded by a police and fire motorcade rolled up to the Old Armory in Tryone around 4:35 Tuesday afternoon. Families were unable to contain their excitement or their emotions as they reunited with their sons, husbands, and fathers.

Dozens of folks from the region lined the streets of Tyrone to welcome the Guardsmen home. It took the unit about ten minutes just to make its way through the borough.


Click Here for Complete Coverage of our the Homecoming of our Hometown Heroes.