SIX months of bottled up tension and constant worry was released in tears and celebrations yesterday as Merseyside soldiers made it back from Iraq.

A battalion of Liverpool families gathered outside the TA Centre at Norris Green to welcome home the Duke of Lancaster’s Regiment from Basra.

The battalion has been given two weeks back in Merseyside after returning to its home base in Germany.

Jubilant soldiers who have faced months under fire in southern Iraq leapt from their coach into the arms of lovers and family at midday after nearly 24 hours on board.

David Davies, from Halewood, was delighted to see his five-week-old baby Olivia, and girlfriend Jodie Brew.

Among the biggest gatherings at the Townsend Avenue centre was for Kingsman Dean Simcock. Twenty family members from grandmother and parents to cousins and friends drove in convoy from Huyton to meet him.

Kingsman Simcock, 19, or Gomez to friends, a driver of the new Bulldog armoured vehicle, said: “They really were hot because you are right next to the engine.”

And yesterday his extended family parked a new Vauxhall, complete with balloons and streamers, in the TA centre car park.

“That will be a bit better to drive and the first thing I’m going to do it get my hair cut.” he said.

Mum Cathy Simcock was delighted to see her son back. “I’ve managed OK because in my job as a drugs worker I’ve learned how to keep positive. When I get a bit down I look at pictures of him and listen to music that reminds me of him.

“James Blunt and the Aerosmith song from Armageddon are my favourites that help you laugh through the tears.”

The concern for their loved ones in hostile territory was evident in the lingering embraces each received as they climbed from the coach.

Anthony Rowlands, 19, is the third generation of soldiers in his family to have seen active military service.

Grandfather Trevor and father Robert, who all still live in Tuebrook, have been all over the globe with the forces. Now his young brother, Callum, who is just five, wants to sign up.

But Susan Rowlands, his mother, admitted: “I still miss him and watch the news every night and wait to hear who has been injured. Today there’s enormous relief.”

She said “At one point he was talking to me on the phone and he heard incoming fire and he just said, ‘hang on, mum,’ and the line went dead.

“We had to wait then to hear what had happened.”

Infantryman William Martin has been reunited with his girlfriend Becky, of Anfield, just days before his 21st birthday.

The pair are looking forward to their wedding in August.

For some though the strange reality of life back home compared to the constant danger and alien environment of Iraq presents a challenge.

John Paul King, 20, a dismount officer responsible for making sure the administration of each operation is managed effectively, said: “When I meet up with my civilian friends back home in Skelmersdale, I can’t explain what we did out there.

“So when they ask I find it really difficult to tell them.”

TO SEE video footage of the reunion visit www.liverpooldailypost.co.uk.

NEW HOME FOR AN OLD REGIMENT – DAY SIX: P4-5

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