Guard Troops Receive Heroes’ Welcome : Homecoming: Orange County marks a wind down for many mobilized two weeks ago for the L.A. riots.

ORANGE — The scene at Hart Park here Wednesday looked like a postwar celebration. Family members waved “welcome home” signs and offered garlands of flowers and balloons to National Guard members returning from duty in Los Angeles.

The troops weren’t all the way home yet--that will not come until later this week. But for many of the 10,000 National Guard members mobilized two weeks ago for the Los Angeles riots, coming into Orange County on Wednesday marked the beginning of their wind down from duty on the streets of Los Angeles.

About 4,000 Guard personnel in Los Angeles on Wednesday were withdrawn. They were sent to armories nearer their hometowns for at least two more days of duty. Then the troops may be discharged so that they can return to their civilian jobs.

Of the Guard members withdrawn Wednesday, about 1,000 caught flights from Los Alamitos Reserve Center to armories in Northern California. Another 80 Guard members, mainly from Orange County, came to a facility near Hart Park here.

Maj. Pat Antosh of Oceanside looked at the rows of Guard personnel as they came into Los Alamitos on Wednesday morning and said it was a happy sight.

“The mood right now is elation,” Antosh said. “I haven’t seen so many smiles in about two weeks. It doesn’t matter whether you’ve been gone two weeks or two months or a year, you’re always glad to be going home, and you always experience that happiness and elation when you see that plane or truck that’s going to take you away.”

At Hart Park, family and friends of Orange County-based Guard members greeted them like returning heroes.

One sign in the park read: “You’re the Greatest.” Another sign said, “We’re Proud of You.” Orange Mayor Fred L. Barrera was among dignitaries at the park to welcome home the troops.

The Orange County National Guard contingent will pull duty at least until Thursday in Orange. They are hoping for a discharge then but some said they fear it may be longer before they are free to go home.

“We could be stuck here (in Orange) for days,” said Ian Michie, 42, who in civilian life is an accounting clerk in Brea.

Michie was one of several Guard members who said many residents of riot-torn areas of Los Angeles didn’t want the troops to leave. “They wanted us to stay,” Michie said.

Capt. Robert Grimes, 42, of Benicia in Northern California had similar comments in an interview at Los Alamitos. “I think the residents are afraid,” Grimes said. “They’re worried about the gangs. They’re worried that more rioting will occur.”

Grimes in civilian life is a police officer in Concord. “I’ve been in law enforcement 17 years, and I never thought I’d see something like what we saw in Los Angeles. I never thought something like this would happen in my country.”

Cpl. Bill Reed, 26, is another Northern California Guard member whose civilian job is as a policeman. “I’m a police officer in Weed--that’s a town of about 3,500 in Siskiyou County,” Reed said.

“You see a lot as a law enforcement officer, but not on this scale,” Reed added, referring to the Los Angeles riot scene. “I can imagine what the police down here were going through. It was real crazy. Those (Los Angeles police) were putting up with a lot of crap. The people seemed to think that since the riots were going on, it was OK to go after a cop. That’s why I was glad we could come down here and help these guys out.”

Reed’s wife, Suzzanne, 26, is also in the National Guard and also was mobilized. However she pulled duty in a command post in Sacramento.

Reed said he worries about what will be happening in Los Angeles now that Guard and federal troops are being withdrawn.

“We heard a lot of talk on the streets when we were there,” Reed said. “These guys would walk by and tell us, ‘Hey, when you guys leave we’re going to go again.’ That’s what a lot of those people were saying.”

At Hart Park, Guard Sgt. Brad Warner, 29, of Garden Grove, said: Los Angeles riot area residents “were glad we were there. . . . I think they trusted us a little better than they did the LAPD.”