TOPSHAM – A group of 56 Marine reservists from around northern New England – including several from the Lewiston area – are scheduled to return home today at 10 a.m.

The members of Company A, 1st Battalion of the 25th Marine Regiment are scheduled to arrive by bus at the Marine office, located off Route 202 at the Topsham Annex.

The welcoming ceremony will last only a few minutes – just long enough for the Marines to form lines and stand at attention, First Sgt. Garry Wilson said Wednesday. Then they’ll be dismissed.

“I don’t think the families would let us take longer,” Wilson joked.

Hundreds of families, many wearing specially ordered “welcome home” T-shirts, are expected to be waiting.

The unit, primarily a cold weather infantry regiment, left home on the day after Christmas 2005. Following training, they were sent to Iraq in March.

Their work was focused around Fallujah and the surrounding Anbar Province.

The Marines returned to America on Oct. 13. They have since been undergoing end-of-tour briefings at Camp Pendleton in California.