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Marines, Sailors Return from Iraq to Pendleton

Their homecoming was delayed for four hours by fog, but some 300 Marines and sailors returned from Iraq to Camp Pendleton after a deployment of more than a year.

Their homecoming was delayed for four hours by fog, but some 300 Marines and sailors returned from Iraq to Camp Pendleton after a deployment of more than a year.

Family and friends stood holding signs as the plane carrying Regimental Combat Team 5 arrived Sunday. One bore a marriage proposal. Another read: "Welcome home from Iraq, half of my heart has returned."

The regiment's commander Col. Patrick Malay says two members were killed during the deployment in the Anbar province.

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Malay called their loss "a terrible tragedy," but added "we whacked our fair share of knuckleheads."
 

Fifty-nine-year-old Ronna Ketterling of San Clemente says the night her 25-year-old son Cpl. Robert Schur II left for Iraq was the worst night of her life. But she says "this is the best: My baby is coming home."