SWAMPSCOTT – The Morrison family has one more reason to be thankful this Thanksgiving: the youngest of four sons is returning home from his deployment in the Middle East.Navy helicopter pilot Lt. Junior Grade James P. Morrison left Kuwait on Nov. 18 and is expected to be home this morning.”I was beyond excited to learn that I’d be home for Thanksgiving,” Morrison said in a phone interview from California, as he waited for a flight home on Monday. “Though I look forward to it every year, this one is going to be extra special. I can’t wait to get home.”Morrison has been serving as a Medevac – or medical evacuation – pilot with the 2515th Naval Air Ambulance Detachment based at Camp Buehring, Kuwait – also known as Udairi Army Air Field. He has been flying Medevac and combat support missions in Kuwait and Iraq since May.”I was stationed out of Kuwait and one of the hardest things was getting used to the climate – the 130-plus degree days,” he said. “There were a lot of sand storms and dust storms. We were pretty much confined to the base except when we were flying.”Morrison said he flew missions five days a week and the average mission lasted two hours.”We ? got the wounded and got out,” he said. “Then we went back to the base until our next mission.”Morrison recently received a Navy Air medal for meritorious achievement for in part the successful completion of two combat Medevac missions and 17 combat support missions over Iraq.Morrison “was personally responsible for the transportation of three critically injured patients in hostile areas over Iraq during combat missions that included 35 combat flight hours in extreme low light conditions and harsh desert environments,” according to the citation.His father, William Morrison, who served in Vietnam, said he knew first-hand what his son would be up against.”I knew what he might be going through,” he said. “We were anxious, but had a lot of confidence in him. He loves to fly and is doing what he loves to do.”William Morrison said the family will have a large Thanksgiving together before his son returns to California, where he is scheduled to spend the next several months.John Morrison added the entire family is extremely excited his younger brother will be home for Thanksgiving.”My family will have to change their address from Bellevue Road to over the moon,” he said. “We just found out a couple of weeks ago he would be coming home. We haven’t seen him in more than six months and every day we’re getting more and more excited.”Lt. Morrison said he couldn’t wait to get back to Swampscott.”I’m so excited,” he said. “I haven’t been home in six months. I can’t wait to see my dog. My family has been taking care of him while I was deployed. I’m just going to relax and enjoy my family.”Morrison took the first step in his aviation career when he was a high school student at St. John’s Prep. He worked after school and on weekends at Beverly Airport, where he received flight lessons in lieu of pay.Morrison attended the University of Maryland in College Park on a Naval Reserve Officer Training Corps scholarship after graduating from high school.Morrison was commissioned as a naval officer in May 2007 and his father, who is a former first lieutenant in the U.S. Army, administered the oath of office.Morrison was then selected for flight school and reported to Naval Air Station Pensacola, Fla. for Aviation Preflight Indoctrination. After completing his training, he received primary flight training at Naval Air Station Corpus Christi, Texas then was sent to Naval Air Station Whiting field in Milton, Fla., where he learned to fly helicopters and earned his wings.