FORT DIX, N.J. Sgt. Evan Byler stepped off the bus, turned in his rifle and then held his fiancee in a lingering embrace.

He and Michele Gibson said nothing as they held onto each other yesterday. The hug was enough. He is a survivor. And he is home from Iraq.

Byler was among many soldiers from the Richmond-based 276th Engineer Battalion and other units who were attacked by a suicide bomber. The bomber blew himself up in their mess tent on Dec. 21, killing 22 people, including two soldiers from Byler's unit.

Byler was eating chicken tenders just before a huge fireball tore through the top of the tent. The blast knocked him out of his seat. When he stood up, Byler took off his shirt and wrapped it around a seriously wounded soldier.

Byler and Gibson held hands as they strolled across the snowy base yesterday.

"It's a big relief to be home after some of the stuff we have gone through, especially after the last few months," said Byler, 27, of Fauquier County.

Gibson wore a gold and silver necklace Byler mailed to her from Iraq. They became engaged while he was home on leave in July. He pretended that he was going to sing a karaoke song at a Mexican cafe but instead proposed to her in front of their friends.

"I'm glad he's home safe," said Gibson, 22, of Fairfax.

As the two talked, other soldiers reunited with their families all around them. The troops had returned to the United States yesterday after serving in a deadly part of northern Iraq for the past year.

They flew 14 hours on chartered flights, traveling more than 6,000 miles before arriving here under overcast skies.

Blue and white buses carried them to a parking lot where close to 100 friends and relatives excitedly cheered their arrival and waved small U.S. flags. Some wives couldn't resist and shouted their husbands' names as they stood in formation beside glistening puddles of melted snow.

"James!" one woman shouted to her husband.

Another woman tearfully pleaded about her husband: "I just want to see his face."

Soldiers lined up one by one and began to stack their rifles in a waiting van. A few troops gently urged relatives not to rush the men. The anticipation was just too much for another woman.

"It's not right with them being so close but we can't get to them," she said.

The Virginia National Guardsmen started arriving in the northern Iraq city of Mosul early last year. They hunted insurgents' improvised explosive devices, guarded bridges and rebuilt parts of the city.

Another planeload of 276th troops is scheduled to arrive here tomorrow. Meanwhile, companies A and B are set to return to Virginia on Feb. 21. The Headquarters and C companies aren't expected to return home until Feb. 23.

Troops normally spend six days at Fort Dix before returning to their home bases. But the huge number of troops returning to this base from abroad is causing delays.

Officers say this "decompression" period at Fort Dix is crucial for troops who survived repeated mortar, rocket and improvised explosive attacks. In all, the guardsmen received 30 Purple Hearts during their deployment. While waiting to go home, soldiers will receive help from professionals on dealing with stress.

Staff Sgt. Mark Pratt was having lunch with Byler in the mess tent when the suicide bomber exploded. The blast also knocked Pratt out of his seat.

"I remember the blast, the heat. I remember the tent going up. I got up off the floor and, of course, I couldn't hear anything," said Pratt, 39, of Gloucester County.

Pratt can't shake the terrible memory of a deceased soldier's face. He is still uncomfortable eating in crowded areas.

Across the street from Pratt, Keri Johnson of Nottoway County kept an eye out for her husband, Sgt. Zachary Johnson. Their 2-year-old daughter, Taylor, cheered "Yeah!" and thanked each soldier who walked by. She wore her special ladybug earrings.

"I think she might be scared. I don't know what she will do," her mother said of her reunion with her father.

Finally, Taylor's father walked across the street to them. He wrapped his wife and child up in a big bear hug. Taylor didn't appear scared. She hugged him as he showed his surprise about how much she had grown. Then she planted a big kiss on his lips.

Article by Jerry Redmon and photo by Dean Hoffmeyer, Richmond Times Dispatch.