Fremont National Guard returns
By Sam Atkins
Published in News on June 7, 2004 2:02 PM
FREMONT -- The first group of soldiers from the National Guard's 691st Maintenance Company returned home Sunday to a crowd of friends and family members.
The 27 members had been deployed to Pennsylvania for a year in support of Operation Noble Eagle. The unit still has 61 members deployed along the Maryland-Pennsylvania border.
Operation Noble Eagle involves Air Force patrols of air space over large cities as a part of the effort to guard against terrorism. The 691st has been providing security for the Raven Rock Alternate Joint Communications Center near Waynesboro, Pa.
The 691st consists of a Company Headquarters in Fremont and Detachment 1, which is based in Farmville. The 691st Maintenance Company and Detachment 1 were organized in 1978 and has served North Carolina on active duty during several natural and civil disasters, including Greensboro Trucker's Strike and Hurricanes Diane, Hugo, Bonnie, Fran and Floyd. It has also provided assistance in ice storms, floods, fires and tornadoes.
It was mobilized and deployed to Saudi Arabia in support of Operation Desert Storm from November 1990 to June 1991.