Welcome Home Soldiers

LOCK HAVEN, CENTRE COUNTY - After a year of being deployed in Kuwait, 75 members of the Pennsylvania National Guard returned home.

The first person Joshua Howard saw was his 2 year old daughter Olivia. 

"It's just amazing. Your heart sinks and you get to see her for the first time for I think it was 8 months. It was amazing." He said.

When Ryan Vera stepped off of the bus, his family had how they were feeling right on their sleeves.

They had T-shirts made that said "we have been waiting for a year for this".

"It was awesome to see them all here. They had all of these shirts made it was awesome" said Vera.

"It was his mom and his sister that came up with the idea and of course, they just wanted to show him a nice sign that we are all thinking of him and we couldn't wait to see him" said Vera's Uncle Dan Wisotzkey.

"I didn't really have any deep emotions until I got right here. They were right outside of the bus and I could see them, but they couldn't see me" added Vera.

"For him being away for a full year. It's a major event in his life and we are very proud of him to see him grow as a man and to see him come back home" said Vera's uncle.

Welcome home and thank you to all.