Relatives greet returning Air National Guard members

FORT WAYNE, Ind. (AP) - Relatives held signs, flags and cameras as they welcomed home members of a Fort Wayne-based Indiana Air National Guard unit following a six-month deployment to the Persian Gulf.

The first of 26 members of the 122nd Fighter Wing returned home Friday from their deployment to Qatar, where they had guarded an air base and planes carrying high-value cargo.

Relatives waited patiently at Fort Wayne International Airport but rushed to greet the returning soldiers when they entered the terminal.

The Journal Gazette reports (http://bit.ly/1BWH1uU ) senior airman James Waltman had several generations waiting for him, including his wife, Meredith, and their daughter, Coraline, who was born about two months before he deployed.

Kristine Hatton's three children, Reed, Cole and Cassie, raced past reporters and TV cameras to greet their returning dad, Michael.

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Information from: The Journal Gazette, http://www.journalgazette.net