HARTFORD, Conn. (AP/ 1010 WINS) -- Gov. M. Jodi Rell says an effort is nearing fruition to bring most of the 700 Connecticut National Guard soldiers who were recently activated for deployment to Iraq and Afghanistan home for Christmas and New Year's.
The governor says the goal of Operation Home for the Holidays is to raise $200,000 to pay for buses to bring the troops back to Connecticut from bases in Indiana and Wisconsin where they are training. She says more than $140,000 has been collected already from fundraisers across the state.
The troops will be going to Iraq and Afghanistan in early 2010. On Sunday, a send-off ceremony was held in East Windsor for 59 members of the 334th Quartermaster Battalion who have been deployed to Iraq.
Another 450 Connecticut National Guard troops are already overseas.
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