Troops to return Sunday: Parades in Luverne, Jackson and Windom

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LUVERNE — Soldiers in the Minnesota National Guard’s 1st Battalion, 125th Field Artillery’s A-Battery from Luverne and Pipestone and B-Battery from Jackson and Fairmont will be returning home to southwest Minnesota en masse on Sunday.

The troops will fly into Sioux Falls, S.D., and be escorted via motor coaches east into Minnesota. Soldiers in the Luverne-Pipestone unit are slated to arrive in Luverne at noon.

Sergeant Ryan Fiferlick of the Luverne National Guard Armory said the public is invited to line up along a parade route that will follow U.S. 75 from Interstate 90, north to Main Street. The soldiers will be led into town by the Patriot Guard, the Luverne Fire Department and the Rock County Sheriff’s Office.

Fiferlick said the parade of vehicles will travel east down Main Street to South Cedar, where they will turn south toward the Armory.

Because of road construction on U.S. 75, Fiferlick suggested people gather along Main Street and South Cedar with their flags and “Welcome Home” signs.

There will be a brief welcome home ceremony inside the Luverne National Guard Armory, but Fiferlick said the event is only for family members of the returning soldiers and invited guests. He also noted that there will be no parking on Fletcher Street between the Armory and the train depot, as the Patriot Guard will be gathered there.

Soldiers in the B-Battery are expected to leave the Sioux Falls airport first. They will arrive in Jackson sometime between 11:30 a.m. and noon, according to Sergeant Kirk Dunlavey, the Readiness NCO at the Jackson Armory.

Those troops will meet up with area fire departments in Jackson for a welcome home parade that will travel from I-90 south on U.S. 71 to State Street, then over to Main Street and down Main to Ashley Street, where they will head east to the Jackson County Fairgrounds and the Armory.

Dunlavey said families of the returning soldiers will be gathered at the fairgrounds for a briefing prior to the arrival of the troops.

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