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Posted on 04/11/2003 12:58:04 PM PDT by Willie Green
For education and discussion only. Not for commercial use.
VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (AP) -- The USS Portland, the first Navy ship to return from the war in Iraq, steamed into port Friday to patriotic music and throngs of people cheering in the fog and rain.
Hundreds of families clutching bouquets, American flags, cameras and umbrellas welcomed back the 320 sailors from a three-month mission to deliver equipment and about 300 Marines to Kuwait.
"This is an answered prayer," Cheryl Douglas, 47, of Virginia Beach said as the ship approached in the morning fog. She was selected to give the first kiss to an arriving sailor, and she went aboard to embrace her husband, Chief Petty Officer Rickey Douglas, 42.
Rickey Douglas said the assignment was difficult because "from one hour to the next, you don't know what you're going to be doing."
Petty Officer 3rd Class Tony Coen agreed.
"You're going to war," he said after disembarking. "It's the unexpected. It's not like a regular deployment where you hit ports. It's hard being away from the family, facing the unknown."
The Portland left Little Creek Naval Amphibious Base on Jan. 12 after crew members were given just two days' notice they were deploying. The 553-foot ship returned a bit early because a high-pressure turbine needed repair, the Navy said.
The equipment and the Marines from Camp Lejeune in North Carolina will return later on other ships.
The steam-powered Portland was part of the seven-ship Amphibious Task Force East that was carrying about 5,000 sailors, 7,000 Marines and tons of heavy equipment and aircraft, the Navy said.
Even before the turbine problem, the Portland had been scheduled to be the first ship home from the task force because it had just returned to Little Creek in December from a four-month deployment to South America.
The crew has been gone seven of the past eight months.
"Our hearts are here with our families," said Cmdr. Lawrence E. Creevy, the ship's commanding officer. "Our minds are out there with the rest of our shipmates who are out there doing their country's work."
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On the Net:
USS Portland: http://www.portland.navy.mil
Little Creek Naval Amphibious Base: http://www.nablc.navy.mil
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FreeRepublic , LLC PO BOX 9771 FRESNO, CA 93794
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It is in the breaking news sidebar! |
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