Yesterday, several thousand sailors from the carrier Dwight Eisenhower and three smaller ships arrived in Norfolk Naval Station from an extended, nearly eight-month, deployment fighting wars and securing seas in the Middle East.
My local paper, The Virginian-Pilot, has a very emotional piece in today’s edition.
A very touching story.
With amazing photos.
This paper’s editor is a former photo editor, so the tradition of great photojournalism is alive here, as you can see in this case.
Click here to watch a slideshow.
And here to read the full story written by Louis Hansen and Kate Wiltrout.
Some moving paragraphs:
“Over the past eight months, the aircraft carrier Eisenhower and its sister ships patrolled the waters of the Middle East, sending bomb-laden planes to the skies over Iraq and Afghanistan – and a reminder to Iran of U.S. military muscle.
Wednesday, as families waited for four ships bearing more than 6,000 sailors to return, the accomplishments of the Anzio, Ramage, Mason and Eisenhower seemed irrelevant.
The day’s mission was far more personal: find, and hug, their sailor.
As is Navy tradition, the sailors who’d earned or won the right to the “first kiss” hit the pier soonest, followed by fathers of babies born during the cruise.
“It feels wonderful,” Seaman Ernie Gartung said, cradling his 8-week-old son, Ernest III, for the first time.
Gartung deployed on Valentine’s Day, in the middle of the guided missile cruiser Anzio’s tour and his wife Allison’s pregnancy.
Allison Gartung and her family drove 13 hours from Tennessee this week for the reunion.
“It’s been rough,” she said.
But the sight of her husband on a brilliant May day brightened her spirits.
The afternoon would be turned over to the new dad, she said, and “whatever he wants to do.”
Sarah Campbell had her arms full while waiting for her husband, Chief Petty Officer David Campbell.
Mom held 3-year-old Savannah on one hip and 18-month-old Dawson on the other.
Dawson’s strawberry-blond hair glowed in the sunshine.
“Daddy made me promise to keep it long so he could take him for his first haircut,” Campbell said.
The chief’s homecoming on the Mason also marked a homecoming for Sarah, Savannah and Dawson, who moved back to Virginia Beach a month ago after spending most of the deployment with family in North Carolina and Indiana.
Some spouses and parents held signs to catch their sailor’s eye.
Holly Davis had a poster made to look like a milk carton, with a picture of her husband, Petty Officer 1st Class Brian Davis, and the message, “Missing since 10/3/06. Have you seen OS1 Davis?”
Racquel Schiller, also waiting for the Anzio to arrive, toted a sign with a photo of her fiance in Wild West garb: “On the run since 10.03.06,” it read.
“Wanted for: theft of fiancee’s heart.”
Pictures by Steve Earley and Gary C. Knapp for The Virginian-Pilot.