A tour guide and a gem factory supervisor show off some semi-precious stones March 24 in Chantabury, Thailand, before they are cut and polished. The USS Harpers Ferry and USS Juneau, both from Sasebo Naval Base, Japan, made a port visit to Sattahip, Thailand, as the ships were returning from supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom. (Brian P. Biller / U.S. Navy)
CAMP FOSTER, Okinawa — More than 2,000 Okinawa-based Marines and sailors of the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit are scheduled to return home Saturday after a six-month deployment to Iraq.
The MEU will arrive at the White Beach Naval Facility aboard three ships of the Sasebo, Japan-based Essex Amphibious Ready Group, which left Kuwait in February, according to the Marine Corps public affairs office.
About 900 of the Marines are with the 1st Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment based out of Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii.
They will return there later in April.
The 31st MEU left Okinawa in September aboard the USS Essex, USS Juneau and USS Harpers Ferry. The Marines were assigned to the 1st Marine Division, 1st Marine Expeditionary Force.
Besides the Hawaii-based unit, other units of the MEU include a Battalion Landing Team, Marine Medium Helicopter Squadron 265, MEU Service Support Group 31 and the MEU command element.
The MEU primarily was responsible for conducting security and stabilization operations in Iraq’s western Al Anbar province, a 33,000-square-mile area approximately the size of South Carolina, Marine officials said.
“The 31st MEU was responsible for a wide range of missions that included assistance and security for Iraq’s first free elections, operations against the insurgency, civil affairs missions, Iraqi border security, training of Iraqi security forces, security of the Hadithah Dam, as well as other operations needed to further stabilize the area in support of the interim Iraqi government,” according to 1st Lt. Eric Tausch, media relations officer for Marine Consolidated Public Affairs on Okinawa.
While in Iraq, 221 members of the 31st MEU were wounded and 50 were killed, including 27 lost in a CH-53E helicopter crash near Ar Rutbah in January.
