<p>Sgt. Patricia Wenrich was overwhelmed by a parade Wednesday through this college town for 69 members of a 161st Area Support Medical Battalion company who returned from more than a year of duty in Iraq.</p><p>The 161st is a field medical unit that provides medical and dental treatment for support personnel behind the front lines. The unit left North Carolina on Feb. 9, 2003, and deployed to Kuwait on April 18, 2003, following a training stint at Fort Stewart, Ga.</p><p>"You're happy to be home with your family and friends," she said as she waited in line for a homecoming meal of chicken wings and sandwiches. "But I have a cousin in the Marines who is still fighting over there in Fallujah."</p><p>Wenrich, a mother of two young sons who lives in nearby Leicester, said she endured many hardships while working as a mechanic during the last year, as her company was called to serve in Iraq, Kuwait and Qatar.</p><p>"Everything else you can live without, except your family," she said.</p><p>Though Wenrich's unit is based about 30 miles away in Asheville, the homecoming was held in this Madison County town that has adopted Company C _ a result of the friendship between the battalion's commander, Col. Richard Broadhurst, and Mars Hill College's food services director, Ken Barefoot.</p><p>That relationship has grown over the last year, linking the batallion's Company C to nearly every civic group in Mars Hill, from the college to the Boy Scouts to the Rotary Club.</p><p>During its deployment, the company saw 47,000 patient visits, including soldiers, prisoners of war and civilians, Broadhurst said.</p><p>"These are true American heroes," said Brig. Gen. Ronnie Griffin of the North Carolina National Guard, who attended the homecoming ceremony. "These are tough times for us all. Without people like this, we could not continue to fight the war on terrorism."</p><p>Company C arrived Wednesday morning from Fort Stewart, landing at Asheville Regional Airport aboard two C-130 cargo planes. Dressed in their desert camoflauge fatigues, they traveled by motorcade to Mars Hill, where they were greeted by hundreds of supporters.</p><p>On highway overpasses, friends and supporters hung American flags and banners saying such things as "Welcome Home Company C."</p><p>Chelsea Swayngin, 12, of Mars Hill, skipped school to attend the parade, which featured a helicopter flyover, balloons, flowers and banners.</p><p>"I think she'll learn more here than she ever would in a classroom," mother April Swayngin said.</p><p>As members of the company waited for the parade to begin, Sgt. James Forbes, 38, of Bakersville chatted with his sister, Rhonda, and their father, Albert.</p><p>"Some of us would be glad to go right back," he said. "There's a lot of people still over there and I'd like to finish what we started."</p><p>Spec. Gregory Fenton, 40, of Canton and a medic with Company C, said he planned to buy some motorcycle helmets for his sons, Craig, 12, and Christopher, 8. He bought a bike when he came home on leave for two weeks in January.</p><p>"We plan to do a lot of camping and fishing," he said. "I guess the last place I want to spend time is in a tent, but I just bought a three-room tent. It will be different with the boys."</p><p>Spc. Kathleen St. Clair, 22, of Lincolnton, also a medic, had no plans to rough it.</p><p>"As soon as I leave here I'm going to take a real long bubble bath," she said. Her father, Joseph St. Clair, was videotaping the homecoming.</p><p>A handful of war opponents from the Veterans for Peace organization also turned out.</p><p>"We're here to welcome them home," said Jim Tobin of Asheville. "We're here to support them like we've supported others who have returned from this horrible war."</p><p>Mars Hill College junior Jennifer Strand, 21, of Seattle, called out, "Welcome home!" as the soldiers marched past her and some of her friends.</p><p>"My father is in the military, so I can understand what these families are going through," she said. "As a college student, I have some feelings (against) this war but that's not going to stop me from supporting the troops."</p>
