WINDSOR LOCKS, Conn. (AP) – Fifty members of the Connecticut National Guard returned to Fort Sill, Okla., on Sunday after nearly a year in Iraq.

The members of the Windsor Locks-based 189th Aviation Regiment are due back in Connecticut by Wednesday night.

“It would be a great Thanksgiving holiday for the soldiers and the families of both units as we await their return to Connecticut late Wednesday evening,” said Maj. Gen. Thaddeus Martin, commander of the Connecticut National Guard. “They have done an outstanding job and played an integral role in the global war on terror.”

The 189th includes pilots and maintenance specialists for the National Guard’s Black Hawk helicopters. The guardsmen are with the 1st Battalion of the regiment, which is based in Montana.

The soldiers arrived in Kuwait on Jan. 1. From there they went to Iraq, where they flew aviation missions and maintained UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters.

AP-ES-11-20-05 2130EST