One local congressman is making sure soldiers overseas know people back home are thinking of them this holiday season.

U.S. Rep. Phil English of Erie, R-3rd District, recently joined a congressional delegation to Germany and Kosovo, aimed at part in conveying holiday greetings to some 1,200 Pennsylvania National Guard troops taking part in ongoing peace efforts there.

English made the trip with three other Pennsylvania congressmen: Tim Holden, D-17th; Bill Shuster, R-9th; and Jim Gerlach, R-6th.

"I am happy to report that our service men and women currently deployed in Kosovo are in good spirits and greatly appreciate that we in our corner of Pennsylvania have not forgotten about them this holiday season," English said during a conference call Monday. The congressional delegation made the trip over the weekend.

In addition to visiting guardsmen at the front lines in Kosovo, the congressmen went to Landstuhl hospital in Germany, where English met soldiers wounded in battle in Iraq.

"I was impressed with the overall quality of the facilities and staff at the hospital," he said. "Our soldiers are being well treated."

English said he also was impressed with how the injured soldiers were eager to get back to their companies and resume the fight.

At Camp Bondsteel in Kosovo, English visited with several troops from his district and brought holiday greetings from home.

English said the 1,200 Pennsylvanians can expect to be relieved in Kosovo by National Guard troops from Minnesota in February and March. America's military force in the autonomous province of the Republic of Serbia and Montenegro will be reduced in stages over the next several years.

Pennsylvanians make up the core of the 2,000 American peacekeepers in the province right now.

English said he wanted to make sure "our guardsmen do not bear too great a burden" in the peacekeeping efforts.

"This is a great burden on their income, professional lives and personal lives," he said. "But I did not hear any complaints from them. I am concerned that they are carrying too heavy a load."

The Pennsylvania National Guard has been deployed in Kosovo for six months, English said.

You can e-mail Herald Staff Writer Amanda Smith-Teutsch at: ateutsch@sharonherald.com