Some 250 Nebraska soldiers who have been in Iraq for more than a year will return Sunday to a huge homecoming celebration at Haymarket Park.

The Nebraska Army National Guard troops will be greeted at a ceremony tentatively scheduled for late morning.

The soldiers were mobilized in October 2005 and deployed to Iraq in March 2006. Subsequently, their one-year tour of duty in Iraq was extended by three months to meet the needs of the troop surge ordered by President Bush.

All told, they’ve been away from home for 20 months.

Returning on Sunday from the longest overseas tour to date for any Nebraska Guard unit will be members of the 1-167th Cavalry and 134th Infantry Detachment (Long Range Surveillance).

Those units are composed primarily of soldiers from Lincoln, Beatrice, Fairbury, Fremont, Wahoo and Crete. Their mission in Iraq centered on providing base defense.

Two members of the 1-167th were killed during their deployment in Iraq.

Staff Sgt. Jeffrey Hansen, 31, of Cairo died Aug. 27, 2006 of injuries sustained in a Humvee accident.

Sgt. Germaine Debro, 33, of Omaha was killed Sept. 4 by a roadside bomb.

The departure of the 250 soldiers left about 550 Nebraska Army National Guard troops in Iraq. But that number will jump to nearly 750 when the 190 members of the 600th Transportation Company arrive in Iraq later this summer.

Those soldiers departed from Lincoln May 31.

Gov. Dave Heineman and Maj. Gen. Roger Lempke, Nebraska’s adjutant general, will be among dignitaries welcoming the troops home at Haymarket Park.

Reach Don Walton at 473-7248 or at dwalton@journalstar.com.