Conn. Troops Return Home For Holidays

HARTFORD (AP) _ Two units of the Connecticut National Guard are returned home for the holidays, thanks to a fundraising effort to bus them back to the state from bases in Wisconsin and Indiana.

Gov M. Jodi Rell said about 700 troops arrived in Connecticut Tuesday and Wednesday and will be on leave through January 2. They have been training for deployment to Iraq and Afghanistan early in the new year.

The New London-based 250th Engineer Company will return to Niantic Tuesday evening. The New Haven-based 102nd Infantry Regiment will be arriving in Hartford Wednesday morning.

Rell says “Operation Home for the Holidays” raised much more than its $200,000 goal to bus the soldiers home. She says extra money will be spent on additional support for state soldiers.