National/World News
Home Page | News | Sports | Business | Politics | Opinions | Arts & Entertainment | Science/Technology | Columns | Archives | Weather | Classifieds | Obits | Subscribe | Forums | Food | Travel | Health & Fitness | People | E-mail Us |

Saturday, November 4, 2000

Family, friends welcome home Cole sailors

The 8,600-ton wounded destroyer is en route to the United States for repairs

Associated Press

NORFOLK, Va. - John Washak heard his wife scream when he stepped off the plane carrying most of the survivors of the suspected terrorist attack on the USS Cole in Yemen.
   Then, he saw Teresa, standing with their two young boys among the crush of relatives, friends and shipmates gathered on the tarmac at a Norfolk Naval Station air terminal.
   "She was the most beautiful thing I've ever seen," said Washak, a petty officer 1st class from Stoughton, Mass. "It's the happiest moment of my life right now."
   For others, like Dianne McDaniels, the homecoming was a sad reminder that their loved ones would not be coming home. Her son, James McDaniels, was among the 17 sailors killed in the Oct. 12 blast. The 19-year-old seaman was buried Wednesday in his hometown of Norfolk.
   "It was kind of horrible seeing them come off the plane and not seeing Little Mac," said McDaniels, who came Friday to support the other families.
   The attack also injured 39 sailors, most of whom came home Oct. 15. Three remain hospitalized.
   Over the past weekend, the 8,600-ton Cole, with a 40-foot-by-40-foot hole in its steel hull, was towed from its mooring in Aden's harbor to start its 6,000-mile trip back to the East Coast on deck of a commercial ship, the Norwegian Blue Marlin.
   Secretary of the Navy Richard Danzig lauded the returning sailors for handling the crisis admirably.
   "Sometimes in life, you are swept up by something bigger than you," he said.
   "They're heroes, the best heroes that you could imagine," said Lisa Thompson of Parkesburg, Pa., who was there to greet her brother, Engineman 3rd Class John Thompson.
   A total of 217 sailors had remained with the Cole until Sunday, the Navy said.
  
  

---

| Talk about this story | Next Story | Home |

---

[an error occurred while processing this directive]

---

[ Printer-friendly version ]
[ Subscribe to newspaper ]

SEND THIS PAGE TO A FRIEND

---

  © 2000, a Scripps Howard newspaper. All rights reserved.