NATCHEZ &045;&045; Sgt. Randall Freeman left for Iraq on Valentine’s Day last year and came back from the war with a Bronze Star and an Army Commendation Medal.

Freeman was deployed early, before the war started and set up camps in Kuwait. From there, he carried ammunition and was the first one from that mission of 27 trucks into Iraq. Freemen also guarded trucks with equipment and set up all communication for not only his camp but also for eight other camps and had to maintain them.

&uot;That was pretty much a full time job keeping all that up,&uot; Freeman said.

For all his work, keeping all communications working and flowing smoothly, even contacting Dell through the Internet while in Iraq to get broken computers working again, Freeman’s commanding officers recommended him for the Bronze Star.

&uot;When he (his colonel) told me, I wasn’t real excited because I thought there was no way I could get it,&uot; Freeman said. But he was the only one from his battalion and one of a handful from Iraq to receive the recognition.

&uot;I feel like I was just doing my job, taking care of soldiers the best I could,&uot; Freeman said. &uot;Looking back, I see I really did a good bit. My battalion commander told me if I wouldn’t have been there they wouldn’t have been as successful.&uot;

Freeman returned to the United States on Dec. 29 and is home for a few weeks, visiting his parents Randy Freeman and Debra Sue Freeman as well as other family and friends.

A Bronze Star, Army Commendation Medal and a stack of other recognitions are not the only things Freeman received at his departure. When he returned to Germany, he returned to his wife, Jamie, and two-and-a-half-year-old son, Riley.

Freeman missed Riley’s first words and first steps but as soon as Riley saw him, he knew that was his dad. When Randall left, Riley was just 18 months old.

Jamie said she kept Randall in front of Riley so he would recognize him when he returned by putting his photo on the refrigerator and on the screensaver on the computer.

Freeman was not away from the danger in Iraq while he was there, having two close encounters. First, when he was in Anaconda, a Chinese rocket, he called it, landed about 50 feet from him, hitting a generator in the building he was in. No one was hurt, he said.

Another time, fragments shot through the windows where he was staying but the ammunition hit about half a mile away.

While in Iraq, Freeman also saw where Saddam was found, just miles from where Freeman was stationed.

Freeman said the Iraqis working at the PX in Balad stopped and watched television all day when Saddam was captured and they sang and rejoiced in front of that television. &uot;That is all they did, all day,&uot; he said.

Freeman said when he first arrived in Iraq, most of the people were glad to see Americans.

&uot;Once we liberated them, they wanted us to leave,&uot; he said.

Freeman said sometimes he wishes he was still there and he does worry about the troops that are left.

&uot;If we (U.S. armed forces) leave, it’s going to be worse than when we got there,&uot; Freeman said.

Now, Randall, Jamie and Riley are moving to Fort Gordon in Augusta, Ga., for Randall’s next assignment after he re-enlisted for three years &045;&045; drill Seargent.

But Freeman said he is glad he went in.

&uot;I wanted to go in and support my country,&uot; Freeman said. But he is also glad to be stationed back in the United States after serving numerous places like Germany and Korea his first seven years.