Londonderry - Loved ones wiped away happy tears as they held up handmade signs inside the Londonderry Reserve Center Friday evening, eager to catch a first glimpse of members of the 428th Engineer Detachment.

The group of Army Reservists departed New Hampshire in late October, when they deployed to Afghanistan following six weeks of training in Texas.

Nine members of the unit arrived at Manchester-Boston Regional Airport shortly before 5 p.m. on Friday: the remaining five soldiers were expected to arrive back in the Granite State early Saturday morning.

For the past year, the Reservists engaged in a vital humanitarian mission, completing over 80 designs and more than 40 tactical infrastructure projects aimed at helping to rebuild a hard-hit area of Afghanistan, including the completion of nearly 50 miles of roads.

Following a brief ceremony in the Reserve Center's upstairs auditorium, the young men and women were welcomed into the awaiting arms of fathers, mothers, spouses, children and siblings: very much eager to resume their civilian lives as workers, parents and students.

Sitting among strangers that have, over the past year, become members of her extended family, Silver Lake resident Linda Kowal, who served as the unit's family readiness leader, decorated a colorful sign welcoming her husband, SFC Scott Kowal, home at last.

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“We've become a pretty tight group here,” said Kowal, motioning to the sea of anxious faces crowded around her. “Everybody pretty much knows each other.”

Helping her decorate a sign was her friend Julia Hall of Surry, who was equally anxious to see her husband, Christopher.

There'll be much to celebrate now that he's home: the couple is expecting their first child this February.

Across the room, Nashua parents David and Paula Belanger and members of their large, extended family prepared for a happy reunion with their son, Corey, who returned from his first deployment.

“It's been a tough year,” said Paula Belanger. “Thank God for Facebook and Skype. Whenever anything bad would happen over there, you'd sit and wait and wait. I don't know how families coped with this before the Internet.”

The Belanger family were happily planning a huge family reunion this weekend, allowing Corey plenty of time to catch up with all the folks he's been missing, especially his girlfriend of three years, Kaily Monroe.

“We'll play bocce and have ourselves a cookout,” David Belanger said.

It's been a challenging year for Alton Bay resident SPC. Zachary Couch, who was awarded the Purple Heart after sustaining injuries from stepping on an IED in Afghanistan.

Couch, who is recovering from nerve damage in his arm and a traumatic brain injury, said he's excited to embark on the next chapter of his life: enrolling in college classes.

But before that happens, he's excited to catch up with friends and relatives this weekend.

“We'll have a lot to talk about,” Couch said.

Angela and David Severy drove 160 miles from their home in Chelsea, Maine, to welcome home son Christopher Knowles, home from his first deployment. Joining them was Knowles' girlfriend, Jess Patnaude.

Asked how many letters and emails she wrote to her sweetheart over the past year, Patnaude didn't hesitate to reply. “It's all I ever did,” she said with a grin.

Bow residents Jeannie and Chris Brock Sr. brought the family Chihuahua, Spiky, along to welcome home their son, SPC. Chris Brock.

“We've sent lots of care packages this year,” Jeannie Brock said, surrounded by a cluster of the soldier's siblings, friends, nieces and nephews.

During the course of her son's deployment, the doting mother of six said she faithfully kept a scrapbook detailing her son's accomplishments.

“We're just so proud of him: so proud of all of them,” she said.

Several of Brock's younger relatives decorated a skateboard poster in homage to the soldier's favorite civilian pastime, while Brock's fiancé, Samantha Belardo, said she was eager to get started on wedding plans.

“He's my everything,” she said.

Planting a kiss on his beaming fiancé, Brock couldn't contain his enthusiasm.

“Let's get out of here,” he told her as he threw an arm around her shoulders.

aguilmet@newstote.com