Iraq soldiers welcomed back home

Pte Stephen Huyton hugs his baby daughter for the first time

Soldiers from the Staffordshire Regiment have been reunited with their families following a six-month tour of duty in Basra.

About 500 soldiers from the regiment, which recruits from Staffordshire and the Black Country, were greeted by relatives on arriving home on Sunday.

The tour involved the storming of a police station on Christmas Day.

But their return was tinged with sadness after the death of Pte Jonathon Wysoczan, 21, during the tour of duty.

The return home had special significance for Pte Stephen Huyton as it was the first time he had been able to cradle his seven-week-old daughter Alexa.

Staffordshire soldiers patrolled the southern city of Basra

"It's amazing, I've looked forward to this for ages, it's brilliant," he said.

Nicola Bartlett summed up the sense of relief felt by all the relatives.

"All the things that are going on over there, so many soldiers have lost their lives, I was just scared," she said.

During the six months the regiment was responsible for the storming and destruction of a police station on Christmas Day, where the allegedly corrupt Serious Crime Unit was suspected of operating.

They also discovered ammunition and weapons thought to be planned for use by insurgents against coalition forces.

Commanding officer Lt Col Tim Sandiford said: "A year or so down the line we will look back on this period and see that some of the seeds we planted have started to come to fruition."