WATERVILLE – Military police who have helped to stabilize western Iraq won accolades for the accomplishment Sunday during a ceremony at the Waterville State Armory.

Gov. John Baldacci and members of the state’s congressional delegation spoke during the Freedom Salute Ceremony for soldiers of Detachment 1, 169th Military Police Company. A total of 37 Maine Army National Guard soldiers were detached to the Rhode Island-based 169th.

They served for a month in Anbar Province.

Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, who visited Iraq in May 2007, applauded the military police for the difference they have made in daily life there.

“The security situation was dire,” Snowe said. “But that was then and this is now. When I think about what you did there, it truly is remarkable and extraordinary.”

Snowe said the soldiers place their lives on the line in securing hundreds of thousands of square miles.

“You have confronted your responsibility,” she said.

Spc. Ernest Day of Farmington and Spc. George Gehrling of Oakland sat with family and fellow soldiers as speaker after speaker honored them on the podium. Both are 22.

Day, who grew up in Vassalboro and graduated from Waterville Senior High School in 2005, was a gunner in Iraq. He was happy to report he never had to shoot at anyone.

“My basic job was to work with Iraqi police,” Day said. “Some of them can be really civilized and they want to learn. Some of them, maybe 20 percent, don’t want us there at all.”

Day and the rest of the 169th conducted security operations and mentored Iraqi police units.

“We focused more on making friends with them,” he said.

Gehrling, who graduated from Messalonskee High School in 2005, served as a medic. He received basic training as a trauma specialist, followed by advanced training in the field at Fort Sam Houston.

“I definitely feel like we’re making a difference,” Gehrling said. “The people are not so afraid now.”

Growing up in a middle-class family, Gehrling said, he was struck by the difference in Iraq.

“We take heat, medical care and hygiene for granted,” he said.

Snowe, Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Rep. Tom Allen, D-1st District, all credited the families of the military for their support. Rep. Mike Michaud, D-2nd District, is touring Afghanistan and Iraq.

Allen concurred that the violence level in Iraq has decreased.

“We have now made so much progress and we welcome that progress,” Allen said. “That’s the only way to bring (the troops) home.”

On the stage, Collins sat next to Allen, her opponent as she seeks another term in the Senate.

“There is no cause more noble than defending our nation’s freedom,” Collins said. “You succeeded in this mission. You succeeding in transforming the lives of the Iraqis.”

The 195th Maine Army National Guard Band played military songs as the dignitaries climbed onto the stage, and the soldiers then walked down the middle aisle to applause.

Following the ceremony, military officers presented them with framed American flags.

Capt. Shawn Kotta of Alna was among the head organizers of the event, and Lt. Col. Mike Backus was master of ceremonies.

“These soldiers taught the Iraqi police how deploy democratic principles,” Kotta said. “They’re really in the forefront of installing democratic ideas in Iraq.”

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