CINDY ELLEN RUSSELL / CRUSSELL@STARBULLETIN.COM
About 300 Marines and sailors with the 1st Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment and 1st Battalion, 12th Marine Regiment returned Saturday to Marine Corps Base Hawaii in Kaneohe from a seven-month deployment in Iraq.

CINDY ELLEN RUSSELL / CRUSSELL@STARBULLETIN.COM
Sgt. Derek Bedaro held his daughter Nicole, 2 months, for the first time as his wife, Draielle, kissed the infant's hand.

CINDY ELLEN RUSSELL / CRUSSELL@STARBULLETIN.COM
Lance Cpl. Eric Zauner and his wife, Jill, got close.

CINDY ELLEN RUSSELL / CRUSSELL@STARBULLETIN.COM
Janet Chiusano comforted Susan Perez at the homecoming. The two women had just met and were expecting friends and family who were deployed to Iraq. "They're all our sons," Chiusano said of the troops. "They are all our family."