FLORENCE — .
A group of the Pee Dee's soldiers are coming home.
The 133rd Military Police Company, an Army National Guard unit based in Timmonsville and filled with soldiers from throughout the region, will celebrate its return and honor the service of its members at a special ceremony at 10:30 a.m. Sunday at Veterans Park in Florence.
The public is invited to come and honor the troops.
The 133rd, nicknamed the “Palmetto Regulators,” is made up largely of South Carolina law enforcement officers who belong to the National Guard. The unit has been deployed several times to Iraq and Afghanistan, primarily to train native policemen.
The unit's most recent deployment began a year ago. The 133rd was deployed to the Khost area of Afghanistan. On June 20, three members of the unit were killed and 15 wounded in a suicide bombing attack near Khost.
About 150 or the roughly 160 members of the unit will be at Sunday's welcome home ceremony. The unit will fly to Columbia from El Paso, Texas, by charter in the Sunday morning, then be bused from Columbia to Florence.
Local and state dignitaries are expected to speak at the ceremony, but an exact lineup is still being formulated.
Florence Veterans Park is located beside the Florence Civic Center on Woody Jones Boulevard in Florence
