Sailors from bombed ship fly home

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.

''We were fighting for our lives,'' said electronics technician Robert Graham of Avoca, Pa., who was hugging his 3-year-old daughter, Lorrie Ann.

Asked to describe conditions on the ship in the days afterward, Graham said: ''Turn your oven on to preheat for about 20 minutes, and crawl inside and try and sleep.''

Over the 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.

''Everyone in their hometowns, they need to give them a heroes' welcome, because they deserve it,'' she said. ''It could have been 250 men dead and the ship could have sunk if it wasn't for these guys.''

A total of 217 sailors had remained with the Cole until Sunday, the Navy said.

Most will go on leave for two weeks, then return to Norfolk. The Navy has not decided where the crippled Cole will be repaired, said Adm. Robert J. Natter, commander in chief of the Atlantic Fleet.

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