Maine soldiers who served in Iraq will be welcomed home this weekend in a pair of flag-waving ceremonies.

On Saturday, 28 members of the 133rd Engineer Battalion will be honored with the National Guard’s Freedom Salute ceremony, including the presentation of flags to all of the veterans. It is scheduled for 1 p.m. at the Augusta State Armory.

And on Sunday, members of the 94th Military Police Company will be welcomed with bands and speeches. It is scheduled for 2 p.m. at Thornton Academy in Saco.

Both events are aimed at catching up with veterans who have yet to receive a thank-you from their home state.

Saturday’s event is for a small group of National Guard soldiers who volunteered for active duty during the first days of the war in Iraq. Each was attached to the 878th Engineer Battalion from Georgia. Much of their work focused on repairs to the main road between Baghdad and Kuwait. They returned home in early June, 13 months after they left.

The aim is to give them the speeches and official attention they deserve, said Maj. Peter Rogers, spokesman for the Maine Army National Guard.

When they initially returned to Maine, local military leaders didn’t want to make the soldiers endure speeches and other formalities at a time when they were eager to be reunited with their families.

“We talked about it,” said Rogers. “We felt there was a better time for the formal stuff.”

Besides being given a flag, each soldier will be able to honor someone at home who made the deployment easier, such as a member of the clergy or an employer. There also will be a band and speeches by several leaders.

While those members of the 133rd were gone, the remainder of the battalion, about 500 men and women, was activated for duty in Iraq. They left in January of this year. They are still there.

The Sunday event will honor the soldiers of the 94th, who weathered two extensions of their stay in Iraq. They were there for 15 months, time described as “boots on the ground” by soldiers.

The unit gained recognition when Maine’s congressional delegation joined other politicians in petitioning the Pentagon for their return home. That happened on Aug. 3.

The 166 members of the unit received their homecoming in Manchester, N.H. Many of the soldiers are from New Hampshire and Massachusetts. Several are from Maine.

U.S. Sens. Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe are scheduled to be part of their homecoming, which is being sponsored by a downtown booster group called “Saco Spirit.”

“We wanted to make sure someone thanked them,” said John Anagnostis, vice president of the group’s board.