BUNTING and balloons were flying at a Kendal terrace as a Royal Marine returned home after six months at sea in the Gulf, reports Lisa Frascarelli.

Craig Beattie, 28, returned home on Monday to a champagne celebration with a house full of relieved family and friends.

His mother Denise Beattie said there had been "a lot of tears", adding: "It's fantastic to have him home. It's a big relief."

The Royal Marine of ten years had been patrolling Iraqi waters since December when he was supporting UN sanctions to stop smugglers sneaking oil out of the port city of Umm Qasr.

When war broke out on March 20, priorities changed and he found himself providing safe passage for aid ships and locating waterways which Saddam Hussein's Republican Guard had littered with deadly mines.

Mr Beattie, who said he was "glad to be back" and reunited with his four-year-old son Tyler, claimed he had not been disheartened by the initial strong anti-war sentiment back home.

"We were getting news of that (anti-war feelings) coming through but there was a job to be done. The protesters back here have a right to their opinion. Iraqis have never had the right to protest, now they have.

"Before the war kicked off nobody knew how much reaction we would get from them (enemy forces). We hoped Iraq would collapse but we expected there would be much more fighting than there was," he said.

In the build-up to war, Mr Beattie found his photograph splashed across the front page of a national tabloid newspaper. The gun-toting image of the South Lakeland soldier had been used to illustrate The Daily Mirror's anti-Iraq war message.

As the national papers reported droves of suicide bombers were heading for Iraq, he found himself dealing with the influx of would-be religious martyrs: "We knew of 100 boats that were carrying suicide bombers heading for Iraq, but nothing happened because they were boarded and stopped."

Mr Beattie, who lost several colleagues in a helicopter crash, said he had been welcomed by the Iraqi people: "It was worth it to see how happy many people were in Umm Qasr to see us. They were cheering and wanting to talk to you and shake your hand. We have done the job we went out to do."

May 2, 2003 09:30