Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, March 29, 1991                   TAG: 9103290551
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B-3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: From The Washington Post/ and The Associated Press
DATELINE: NORFOLK                                LENGTH: Medium

SAILORS RETURN TO VA. CHEERS/ 10,000 FROM GULF SAIL INTO NORFOLK

She let out a yelp and jumped into his arms. He barely held back the tears; she didn't even try.

"Hi, sweetheart," Machinist Mate Chief Michael Iovinelli, 30, told his wife, DeeAnn, 27. "You didn't miss me, did you?"

But the reunion on Pier 12 of the Norfolk Naval Base could only be brief. He had to return to the USS John F. Kennedy to check the elevators. She wouldn't let him go. She clutched him tightly and kissed him, then hugged him, then kissed him again. She wouldn't let him out of her arms.

It has become a familiar scene in the past month as the troops of Operation Desert Storm filter back to the United States. But the scenes were no less poignant, the emotions no less intense at the docks of the world's largest naval base Thursday as 10,000 sailors returned home from war to the cheers of more than 35,000 loved ones in the largest homecoming yet.

"I've waited a long time for this," said Jeannie Davis of Lynchburg, mother of gunner's mate Christopher Epperson aboard the battleship USS Wisconsin.

"I'm going to put up the Christmas tree this weekend and we're going to do it all, everything he missed."

Just seven months ago, on Aug. 15, the atmosphere on the piers as the Kennedy slipped out of port to an uncertain future was filled with an ominous, almost funereal dread. Thursday, as the Kennedy and seven other warships returned triumphant, the mood was one of unrestrained euphoria.

They were home and they were safe.

In addition to the Kennedy and Wisconsin, ships returning Thursday to Norfolk were the USS Thomas S. Gates, USS San Jacinto, USS South Carolina, USS Mississippi, USS Biddle and USS Thomas C. Hart. Two smaller ships returned earlier in the week and aircraft squadrons from the Kennedy and USS Saratoga returned to Oceana Naval Air Station in Virginia Beach on Wednesday.

Another 6,000 sailors returned to Mayport Naval Station in Florida on five warships Thursday, including the Saratoga.

The return of the Wisconsin was a bittersweet homecoming for the aging battleship.

Although the World War II-era vessel emerged from the war unscathed, it has taken a direct hit from Defense Department budget cuts and is scheduled to be mothballed Oct. 1.

Capt. David S. Bill, skipper of the Wisconsin, told a news conference aboard the ship that he was saddened by its upcoming retirement.

"In my mind this is a national asset. It's a very visible and forceful indication of the might of this country. To see it tied up alongside the pier . . . would be a great sadness. As a matter of fact, I would refuse to go see it," he said.

The first Tomahawk cruise missile launched against Iraq - and the first cruise missile fired in combat - roared off the Wisconsin Jan. 17. Within 48 hours, the Wisconsin fired 24 Tomahawks. The dreadnought also used its big 16-inch guns to pound Iraqi shore positions in Kuwait.