ROYAL Marine Neil Short was given a hero's welcome when he returned from Iraq to his New Forest home.

After four months in the Gulf the 23-year-old came back to Ringwood to find his parents, Sue and Glenn, had decorated the house with welcome home bunting.

Neil said: "It's very nice to be home, I never expected my parents to do this for me.

"They've been really great since I got back - chilled out and relaxed, just letting me get back into the swing of things.

"I've spent the last few days just catching up with friends and relatives before I have to go back to my base in Taunton in a few weeks."

Neil left Britain with 40 Commando Royal Marines on January 15, and was posted to Cyprus, the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait before the war with Iraq began.

He recalled: "Waiting was the worst thing. We were waiting for about a month and half not knowing what was going to happen."

When the war finally got under way in March Neil and the rest of his unit entered Iraq at the southern tip of the Al Faw Peninsula, successfully securing the entire area up to the south of Basra.

It was during these crucial moments of battle that Neil and just 17 comrades came up against the biggest Iraqi forces to meet British forces in combat - the Mother's Day Massacre.

"We don't exactly how many of them there were but we've been told there was about 150 and that was the biggest any British force faced," he said.