Clutching a bright yellow poster bigger than his body, 4-year-old Adain McCown marched his tiny feet to the spot where his father was exiting a charter bus.
“Daddy, I made this sign for you,” said the blond-haired boy, lifting a posterboard that read: “Welcome Home Trae. I love you daddy.”
Adain’s father, Spc. Joe Trae McCown, was one of more than 130 soldiers who returned home to Tennessee on Saturday from a deployment in Iraq.
Two units of the Tennessee National Guard’s 278th Armored Cavalry Regiment left for a yearlong deployment in December, but were sent back to the U.S. six months earlier than expected.
Spc. McCown and 28 others from the 181st Forward Support Company of the 278th arrived in Chattanooga early in the evening and were greeted by dozens of eager family members.
The company is based in Athens, Tenn., but most of its soldiers live in Hamilton County.
“It was hard,” said Spc. McCown, holding his son in his arms. “You miss out on a lot of the activities. I just want to spend as much time with him as I can.”
Before the soldiers arrived, family members gathered outside their cars in the parking lot of the National Guard Armory on Holtzclaw Avenue.
Karen Hendry, along with her daughters Emilee-Lynn and Chelsea Hendry, waited in the heat for her husband to come back from his first deployment.
The timing of his return couldn’t have been better for her.
The Chickamauga, Ga., resident’s 21-year-old son, Spc. Joshua Perry, also served with the unit alongside her husband and arrived home Friday night.
Her husband, Sgt. Colin Hendry, made it back just in time for the July Fourth holiday and the couple’s 22nd wedding anniversary that’s about two weeks away.
“I’m happy,” Mrs. Hendry said, her voice quivering. “It’s been long.”
Just before noon, the soldiers arrived at the National Guard’s Volunteer Training Site in Smyrna, Tenn., after undergoing the initial phases of out-processing at Camp Shelby in Mississippi. After more out-processing, they then took a two-hour bus ride to Chattanooga.
When Spc. Ben Barnes stepped off the bus, he knew exactly what he wanted to enjoy: family and food.
“I can’t wait for some Waffle House,” he said. “I’ve already got a date there tomorrow.”