Cisi Mathews, above, closes her eyes and rests her head on the chest of her husband, Sgt. Michael Mathews, at the Clinton National Guard Armory after a bus ride from Fort Campbell, Ky. (The Vicksburg Post/Melanie Duncan)

[12/07/02]Four-year-old Laken Herring wore her cheerleading uniform Friday just so she could cheer for her father returning home after nearly a year with the Mississippi Nation Guard.

“But she forgot to do her cheer,” said Stacey Herring, Laken’s mother and wife of Spc. Edward Herring.

Stacey Herring and Laken were among the nearly 300 family and friends who waited anxious at the Clinton National Guard Armory for the 114th Military Police Company to come home after their deployment as part of the Joint Task Force Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, mission.

Edward Herring, a telephone repairman in Vicksburg, was deployed with the other members of the company to Fort Campbell, Ky., in January and moved to the U.S. military base on the southeastern tip of Cuba in June to guard terrorist suspects.

Last month, the soldiers were given leave to come home for Thanksgiving before returning to Fort Campbell, but Friday they were sent home after 11 months.

The troops arrived to cheers and applause from people lined up along the street outside the armory.

“It’s been a really long time,” said Edward Herring as Laken pulled and tugged on his hand.

Stacey Herring said that the hardest part about being apart had been their young daughter.

“She had questions every week about when’s he coming home,’ and why isn’t he here,'” Stacey Herring said.

Cisi Mathews who moved back to Vicksburg with her husband Sgt. Michael Mathews last year said it was hard to be apart from her husband.

“I hated the circumstances we had to come back in, but it’s good to be around all our family,” Cisi Mathews said.

Both Michael Mathews and Edward Herring served in Germany during operations in Bosnia in 1996. But Michael Mathews, who has served seven years in the Guard, said this would be his last deployment.

“Never again,” he declared.

Members of the company were presented with awards including the National Defense Medal and where thanked for their part in the war on terrorism by Gov. Ronnie Musgrove.

“When the president of the United States looks to the National Guard, he looks to Mississippi,” Musgrove said. “And you have stepped up to the plate and you have done your part.”

Other soldiers from Vicksburg deployed with the 114th are Sgt. Jeramie Walker, Sgt. Clyde Keathley, Sgt. Glenn Cotton, Spc. Brian Maxwell, Spc. William Brent, Spc. Amelia Bailey, Spc. Willie Jones, Spc. Jeanetta Bass, Spc. Cammie Branch, Sgt. Benjamin Hewitt and twin brothers Sgt. Nicholas Woods and Spc Christopher Woods.