Marines & Corpsman returning to bases

Members of hard-hit unit complete tour of duty in Iraq

By Margo Rutledge Kissell: Dayton Daily News

About 500 members of an Ohio-based Marine Corps Reserve battalion that suffered heavy casualties in Iraq are expected to arrive home this week.

Among them is Dayton police Officer Chuck Hurley. As a gunnery sergeant, he led the 1st Platoon, Lima Company, of the 3rd Battalion, 25th Regiment in the thick of battle in Iraq.

Tuesday, at Dayton police Fifth District headquarters, 248 Salem Ave., where Hurley is assigned, signatures were being gathered on a "Welcome Home" banner to be placed in his yard.

Former police Officer Joe Oldham arranged for the banner to show support for his friend of 12 years. Oldham knows war. As an Army sergeant, he transported prisoners in Saudi Arabia during the Persian Gulf War.

"They took quite a loss," he said of casualties Hurley's battalion suffered in Iraq.

The battalion lost 48 people in Iraq, with more than 150 wounded. The deaths include 14 Marines based in the Cleveland suburb of Brook Park in back-to-back attacks this summer.

The battalion's Columbus-based Lima Company lost 16 reservists among Marines who were deployed Jan. 10 and arrived in Iraq in March.

Seven others were killed who had later been assigned to the company from other units, Marine Corps Master Sgt. Steve Walter said.

Since Friday, members of the battalion have been going through debriefing at Camp Lejeune, N.C., before they head to their companies in Ohio, West Virginia and New York.

Lima Company officials were awaiting official word Tuesday on when the reservists will return to Ohio. Walter said "we're looking at probably Friday" for the 150 members of Lima Company to return to Columbus.

Those reservists are tentatively scheduled to fly into Port Columbus International Airport and then travel via Hamilton Road to the Navy-Marine Corps Reserve Center at 7221 Second St. on the Rickenbacker Air Base.

The brief ceremony will be open only to family, invited guests and the media.

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