Local troops back safely from Iraq

Battalion suffered no losses

The crowd of about 1,000 family members and friends waved signs, with messages such as “You are our hero.”

They cheered and cried and listened to short speeches.

And then when the 1st Battalion, 127th Field Artillery was dismissed after serving more than a year in Iraq, the crowd of people ran to their soldiers, all of whom returned safe from the war.

Vietnam War veteran and 1st Sgt. Joseph T. “Ted” Lawyer of Lawrence, who at 59 was the oldest member of the battalion, said the event at Lee Arena on the Washburn University campus was entirely different from when he returned from Vietnam.

“When we came home before, you got off an airplane and that was it. You didn’t have anything like this,” Lawyer said, as his wife, Gwen, children and grandchildren surrounded him.

Spc. Scott Grammer joked with his father, Steve Grammer of Baldwin, about going to Las Vegas for a belated 24th birthday celebration.

“I’m glad to have him back,” Steve Grammer said. “It’s a good feeling to have everybody back in Kansas.”

Soldiers at Thursday’s event said they thought conditions were improving in Iraq despite the increase in violence.

“There’s a lot more commerce,” Lawyer said. “People are getting out, people are waving at us.”

The improvements are gradual, said 1st Lt. Steven Schneider of Overland Park.

“It’s a slow process,” Schneider said. “Honestly, they’re having more battles with themselves; they are still trying to establish a pecking order. The government is slowly starting to get on its feet.”

He and his wife, Vanessa, said they planned to disappear for a few days, and then he had to tend to a two-page “honey-do” list.

The 150 soldiers had been in Baghdad providing security for U.S. government officials. The battalion is headquartered in Ottawa and includes a detachment based in Lawrence.

Lawyer said he had flown a Kansas University flag in Iraq and planned to donate it to a museum.

“It’s not for me,” he said. “It’s for the battalion.”

Lt. Gov. John Moore welcomed the troops back, saying, “You have answered your nation’s call.”

Maj. Gen. Tod Bunting, adjutant general for Kansas, told the troops, “Thank you for a job extremely well done,” before dismissing them.

Earlier in the day, Bunting attended the funeral of Spc. John Edward Wood, 37, in Bourbon County.

Wood, a member of the 891st Engineer Battalion of the Kansas National Guard, died Oct. 7 while clearing explosive devices along an Iraqi roadway.