Thousands Greet Paratroopers on Their Return From Panama

About 700 paratroopers who spent Christmas in Panama returned home today and were greeted by thousands of friends and relatives bedecked in green ribbons and holding huge red balloons.

“Merry Christmas--I’m your present,” promised a T-Shirt worn by a woman waiting in the crowd as four transport planes arrived at Pope Air Force Base adjacent to the sprawling Ft. Bragg Army complex.

The returning troops, members of the 82nd Airborne’s 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment, were sent to Panama Dec. 10 for jungle training and joined the U.S. Southern Command on Dec. 20 as it seized Madden Dam, which supplies electrical power to U.S. installations in Panama. They also attacked the main supply depot of Gen. Manuel A. Noriega’s Panama Defense Forces and the El Renacer prison holding political prisoners from a failed October coup attempt.

Two men wounded in the Panamanian invasion were waiting on the Tarmac as the transport planes touched down, including Sgt. Bobby Younger, 28, of Columbia, S.C.

“I’m just glad these guys are back,” he said. “It’s exciting to get out of the hospital to come here and see them. I want to talk with them and tell them what happened to me and listen to their stories.”