Welcome home! Soldiers return from service

On Memorial Day, a look back at soldiers coming home to tearful and joy-filled embraces after tours of duty abroad.

A soldier from the U.S. Army's Battery B, 2nd Battalion, 44th Air Defense Artillery Regiment, 101st Airborne Division, sits with his family following a homecoming ceremony at Campbell Army Airfield in Fort Campbell, Ky. on March 21, 2014.

Specialist British Rivers of the U.S. Army's 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division, embraces his girlfriend Courtney Barker at a homecoming ceremony in the Natcher Physical Fitness Center in Fort Knox, Ky. on Feb. 27, 2014. One hundred soldiers returned to Fort Knox after a nine-month combat deployment conducting village stability operations and working alongside Afghan military and police forces.

U.S. Army Specialist Brian Bennett of the 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division, holds his 2-year-old daughter Sophia at a homecoming ceremony in the Natcher Physical Fitness Center in Fort Knox, Ky. on Feb. 27, 2014.

U.S. Army Private First Class Brian Lang of the 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division, kisses his son Johnathan during his homecoming ceremony in the Natcher Physical Fitness Center in Fort Knox, Ky. on Feb. 27, 2014.

Specialist Jose Vargas of the U.S. Army's 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division, kisses his girlfriend Geneva Romero at a homecoming ceremony in the Natcher Physical Fitness Center in Fort Knox, Ky. on Feb. 27, 2014.

U.S. Army Staff Sergeant Jason Dinkins with the 3rd Combat Aviation Brigade is hugged by his daughter Olivia Chastain after a welcome home ceremony at Hunter Army Airfield in Savannah, Ga. on June 11, 2013. The aviation brigade deployed 2,200 soldiers to Afghanistan in December on a 9-month mission, but came home earlier than expected because of the readiness of the Afghan National Security.

U.S. Army Sergeant Aaron Brewster hugs his parents Steve and Sharon Brewster during a welcome home ceremony in Fort Stewart, Ga. on Dec. 4, 2012.

Ashley Smith chats with his grandparents, Gary and Jean King of McDonough, Ga., after a welcome home ceremony for approximately 230 4th Brigade Combat Team soldiers on in Fort Carson, Colo. on Nov. 4, 2012.

Specialist Marqes Turpin of the 273rd Military Police Company of the National Guard kisses his two-year-old son Josiah Turpin as his mother Gaye, sister Nikilae and girlfriend Shardai White look on at the DC National Guard Armory in Washington, DC on Oct. 16, 2012.

Army Specialist Cory Allen kisses his daughter Lacey during a welcome home ceremony for soldiers from the Army's 1st Battalion, 30th Infantry Regiment at Fort Stewart, Ga. on Oct. 10, 2012.

U.S. Army Private Sulala Thompson cheers as fellow soldiers arrive home from Iraq in Fort Carson, Colo. on Nov. 10, 2011. More than 100 soldiers from the 549th Quartermaster Company, 43rd Sustainment Brigade returned after a seven-month deployment.

Christopher Tubbs embraces his wife Sarah during the homecoming of the USS Enterprise at the Norfolk Naval Station in Norfolk, Virginia on July 15, 2011. In its 184 days away from Norfolk, the USS Enterprise traveled nearly 60,000 miles while supporting operations in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Marlene Estrada embraces her fiance U.S. Army Specialist John Rodriguez in Fort Carson, Colo. after he returned home from Afghanistan on July 9, 2011.

Janet Allegra tearfully hugs her son Specialist John Allegra IV at the Army aviation support facility in Windsor Locks, Conn. on Aug. 25, 2010. About 110 soldiers of the 250th Engineer Co. Connecticut National Guard who were deployed to Iraq last winter have returned home.

SFC Matthew Burleson of the Illinois Army National Guard gets a kiss from his wife Nadine during a homecoming ceremony following his unit's return from nine months in Afghanistan in Woodstock, Ill. on July 30, 2009.

Chaplain Jerry Gleason looks at a picture of a man who died while deployed in Afghanistan with Company D, 1st Battalion, 178th Infantry of the Illinois Army National Guard, prior to a homecoming ceremony in Woodstock, Ill. on July 30, 2009.

U.S. Army Segreant Jatorrio Brooks holds his wife Stephanie and son TyReeq during a homecoming ceremony for 200 soldiers with the 4th Brigade Combat Team in Fort Stewart, Ga. on Dec. 8, 2008.

Friends and family celebrate the homecoming of U.S. Marines and sailors from the 3rd Battalion of the II Marine Expeditionary Force from Iraq at Camp Lejeune, N.C. on May 12, 2008.

U.S. Army Sergeant Charles Dutton is greeted by his wife Sabrina and mother Mattie Dutton of Glennville, Ga. during a homecoming ceremony for the the 3rd Infantry Division on March 26, 2008.

A Marine of the 1st Battalion, 24th Regiment kisses the tarmac while his son and daughter watch at Selfridge Air National Guard Base in Mount Clemens, Mich. on April 29, 2007.

Sergeant Chris Soldano of the 2nd Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion, plays with family friend Joey Atherall upon arriving at Camp Lejeune, N.C. on April 2, 2007.

Kathleen Ryan, 13, fights back tears as she waits to see her brother James Patrick Ryan, a Marine reservist from Lima Company, 3rd Battalion, 25th Marines, during a homecoming celebration at the unit's reserve center in Columbus, Ohio on Oct. 7, 2005.

Sergeant Alejandro Delaluz of the Army Reserve 379th Chemical Company holds back his emotions as he hugs his two-year-old son Alexander during a welcome home ceremony in Arlington Heights, Ill. on Feb. 4, 2005.

Andrew Schwartz hugs his father, U.S. Army Lieutenant Colonel Eric Schwartz, at a welcome home ceremony at Fort Stewart, Ga. on Aug. 7, 2003. Schwartz was returning home from a deployment in Iraq with the Army's 3rd Infantry Division.

Captain Tory Burgess of the U.S. Army's 4th Brigade kisses his wife Kathleen's belly in a hangar at Hunter Army Airfield in Savannah, Ga. after returning home from Iraq on July 16, 2003.

U.S. Army Private First Class Jessica Bacon gets a warm hug from her mother Michelle Dirksen as she arrives in Fort Stewart, Ga. from Iraq with the 24th Corps Support Group on July 6, 2003.

U.S. Navy Hospital Corpsman John Lonika shares a moment with his wife Karen, son Derek and daughter Sierra at the U.S. Marines Air Station in Beaufort, S.C. on May 23, 2003. Marines from the Fighter Wing Support Squadron 273 were reunited with their families after a six-month deployment aboard the USS Harry S. Truman during the Iraq war.

Sergeant Major Jeff Morin and his wife Ellen hug in a cloud of dust kicked up by the helicopter that brought him home to Camp Pendleton, near San Diego, Calif. as he returns from Afghanistan on June 17, 2002.

US Navy EP-3 spy plane crew member David Cecka holds his four-month-old son Cameron during the crew's homecoming reception at the Whidbey Island Naval Air Station in Washington on April 14, 2001.