BOSTON (AP) – Megan Sullivan, a reservist in the United States Army, was one of several soldiers who called Sen. Edward Kennedy’s office Friday afternoon looking for help. Sullivan, of Williamstown, was at Camp Atterbury in Edinburgh, Ind., undergoing demobilization after serving in Iraq, and she was eager to come home, Kennedy said.

She was one of 150 members of the Massachusetts-based 220th Transportation Company who had been on active duty for at least one year.

Eager to get home to their families, the soldiers were shocked when they were told that they would not be flown home, but would have to take an 18- to 20-hour bus ride from Indiana to Massachusetts.

The Massachusetts Democrat sent a letter to the Army Secretary Francis J. Harvey, asking that the Army fly the soldiers back to New England. He was informed on Sunday that a plane had been secured.

“With air service such a viable option, I don’t believe putting these soldiers on buses for an extended overnight ride is the most appropriate way for the US Army to show its gratitude for their considerable sacrifices,” Kennedy wrote in the letter.

Kennedy, is a member of the Committee on Armed Services.

“Taxpayers expect we’re going to support the military, treat them as the heroes that they are,” Kennedy said in an interview with The Associated Press on Sunday. “This shoddy treatment, it’s wrong and I’m glad it’s taken care of.”

Calls to the Department of Defense and the U.S. Army were not immediately returned Sunday evening.