Mass. National Guard Units Returning Home

Family members are calling it the best Christmas gift they've ever received.

More than 400 soldiers of the Massachusetts National Guard are returning home on Friday - Christmas Eve - after a yearlong deployment in support of the war in Iraq.

The 164th Transportation Battalion based in Boston provided heavy equipment transport capabilities for staging and sustainment operations in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation New Dawn.

The units are expected to arrive early in the afternoon at armories in Dorchester, Worcester, Hingham and Framingham.