Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, March 9, 1991 TAG: 9103090286
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: The Washington Post
DATELINE: LANGLEY AIR FORCE BASE LENGTH: Medium
The first returning Air Force veterans of the Persian Gulf War touched down here Friday, greeted as heroes by a wildly cheering crowd of friends, relatives and complete strangers, waving a sea of fluttering American flags and singing boisterously along with patriotic music played by a military band.
"It's awe-inspiring," said Capt. Mark Atwell, 29, a pilot from Hampton. "I'm going to take a few days off, lie around the house, playing with my remote control, listening to a stereo, driving in a car with less than 10 people, drinking water from a sink, taking a hot shower. . . . "
His wife, Laurie, 27, her flushed face beaming, refused to let go of his hand. "I didn't believe it till I saw his face," she said. "I thought his plane would break or something would happen."
The 1,000 members of the 1st Tactical Fighter Wing arriving at Langley Friday and today represent the first large-scale return of local troops. The colorful scene was repeated Friday at John F. Kennedy Airport in New York, Fort Stewart in Georgia, Pope Air Force Base in North Carolina and elsewhere, and will become a familiar sight as U.S. forces return from the Middle East at the pace of 5,000 a day, possibly with all of them home by Independence Day.
The pilots and crew members returning to Langley this weekend were among the first forces sent to Saudi Arabia in early August and spearheaded the air assault on Kuwait and Baghdad. Among the first to emerge from the canopies of six F-15s were Col. John McBroom, the wing commander who became a familiar face on television, and Capt. Steven Tate, who shot down the first Iraqi fighter in the early hours of the war.
The returning airmen seemed shocked by the enthusiastic mob that enveloped them.
"I thought it would be a handful of people out here, shake a few hands and you'd be on your way," said Chief Master Sgt. Larry Ward. "I never expected anything like this."
The celebration in crisp weather took on a carnival atmosphere, with tents set up to sell food and coffee, an Air Force band playing stirring music and CNN reporter Wolf Blitzer signing autographs on paper flags. One man had a small flag planted in the tobacco of his pipe; an Air Force dog wore a flag in his collar. Nearly every building on base sported a handmade welcome-home banner, and inside the hangar where the airmen were received was a flag as big as the jets they fly.
Local television and radio stations broadcast the homecoming live, and the Newport News Daily Press devoted four-fifths of its front page this morning to the impending return, including a front-page editorial praising the troops' "courage, spirit and strength."
More of the 40,000 local military service members who participated in Operation Desert Storm also were scheduled to return Friday, including 242 medical personnel from Fleet Hospital 5.
In addition, 15 surviving members of the 14th Quartermaster Detachment of Greensburg, Pa., the unit whose barracks was hit by a Scud missile, were expected to fly into Langley tonight. Among them, officials said, were three members of the D.C. National Guard attached to the Pennsylvania unit.
Earlier Friday, in a rare move, base officials threw open the gates and invited the public onto the flight line. Some carried flowers, balloons, banners, signs and even champagne. Joined by a bevy of military brass as well as Virginia Sens. John Warner and Charles Robb, the crowd chanted "U-S-A, U-S-A" and partied as though their team had won the Super Bowl.
by CNB