Corpus Christi History Caller-Times

Marketplace \| Services \| Contact Us \| Community \| Arts & Entertainment \| Local Guides

Larry L. Rose

August 1, 1999

Fleet coverage truly hit home

The journalistic criteria for the Caller-Times' front page Tuesday weren't in the textbooks.
The unusual one-story page was inspired by readers: readers of our Web site, readers all over the country, reacting to a series of articles by military writer Stephanie Jordan.
She traveled with the USS Inchon across the Gulf of Mexico on the final days of a voyage from the Adriatic Sea.
The emotional e-mails set the tone we were to adapt for the front page, welcoming home the crews of five Navy ships.
In more than 250 e-mails, and more letters and phone calls, readers thanked Stephanie for her insight into life aboard ship, asked her to convey in-person greetings to loved ones, and told about preparations for travel to the Ingleside homecoming. A sampling of those notes to Stephanie follows:

***
"I read your first story from the Inchon. My kids . . . rush to the computer every night to see where Daddy is. I would like to thank the Caller-Times for this wonderful Web page.
"This deployment has been very different with my children now 9 and 5 and both in extracurricular activities, and my working and involving myself in ship support group efforts.
"I come home so tired all I want to do is crash in a bed, much less get the chores done, feed the kids, make sure they have baths, homework done and things ready for the following days.
"I think e-mail has been the real family technology boost for the Navy. I have seen the morale of the wives on this deployment being higher, as they have been able to hear from their spouses practically every day.
"Again, thank you and your paper for the Web page and the chance to see our task group first-hand."

***
"Thanks, it's pretty cool to have your name in the paper and to save special moments like these in our family scrapbook.
"Tonight we are celebrating Katherine's fifth birthday. I know my husband is sad that he is missing her big day.
"We have lots of family trickling in. We'll all be at the pier, straining our eyes trying to get the first glimpse of him."

***
"What I'm asking is for you to wish my husband a happy birthday. Being that we couldn't be with one another, I would be in such great debt to you. Between me and the kids I can't figure out which of us is missing him more. He also missed our son's seventh birthday, the 21st of July. That was the second birthday he missed.
"Please try to make some type of hype about it, so he knows his birthday was not forgotten."

***
"As you can imagine, we're all excited about the return of the Inchon. My husband is a civilian for the minesweeping helicopters.
"Because of school and other obligations we decided not to move to Texas. I want to let you know that my being able to go on line and access the Caller-Times has been a tremendous comfort to me.
"One big milestone Jeff wasn't a part of was our oldest son buying his first car, and also little things, though just as important, like our youngest son, who is 8 years old, who has mastered telling time on a regular clock with hands, not digital.
"I just wanted to share with you another story of a wife whose husband is on the Inchon, though he is a civilian. His family has missed him just as much as the other Navy families."

***
"My husband is attached to HM-15. I have been following your stories on the homecoming. I have to tell you, each story I read I find myself in tears. Just hearing these sailors talk about home and bonding with each other makes me realize once again what a sacrifice our spouses make for our country. The civilian world needs to hear this.
"Thank you."

Larry L. Rose can be reached by phone at 361-886-3749 or by e-mail at rosel@caller.com.

Archive of columns | Discussion forums | All columns | Home Page

[an error occurred while processing this directive]