BATON ROUGE — LSU football coach Les Miles and his youngest son Ben were among hundreds of family and friends who welcomed back 175 members of the Louisiana National Guard’s 769th Engineer Battalion here Monday night at the Baton Rouge Airport.
The battalion returned to Baton Rouge after a year-long tour of duty in Iraq.
“I wanted to be there to personally say ?thank you’ for what they are doing for our country,” Miles said. “These young men and women are heroes and being there to welcome them home is a small way to show how much we appreciate them and their efforts.”
Also in attendance at Monday’s arrival were Governor Bobby Jindal and Mayor-President Kip Holden.
“A couple weeks ago I was emailed a picture of members of this battalion in Iraq showing off their LSU flags and banners and I said at that time that ?I’ve got to meet these guys’,” Miles said. “It was truly a special moment to see the troops get off that plane and be greeted by family and friends who they haven’t seen in a year.
“It was very moving and something that I won’t soon forget.”