SOLDIERS from Crewe have returned home after completing a tour of duty in Iraq.
Normandy Company, a 120-strong unit of Territorial Army soldiers, were welcomed back on Sunday after a six- month operational tour in Basra.
Family and friends watched with pride as the Duke of Westminster presented members of the Crewe TA Centre in Myrtle Street with Operation Telic medals.
They included Lance Corporal Andrew Henshall, 25, a coach builder; Private Kevin Griffiths, 30, a lorry driver; Private Patrick Nelhams, 20; Lance Corporal Tom Wood, 21, a community safety warden; Private Colin Vanner, a lab assistant; Lance Corporal Adam Shilton, 24, a football coach; Private Michael Savage, 29, an archive researcher; and Lance Corporal Timothy Royle, 26, unemployed.
They swapped life in civvy street for six months guarding Basra Airfield Station, an international airport which doubles as HQ of coalition forces in south east Iraq.
Their tasks also included patrols of towns and villages, as well as protecting medics sent out to treat casualties.
The soldiers paraded in front of family and friends at Altcar Training Camp, Merseyside, on Sunday.
