THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, September 1, 1994 TAG: 9409010805
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JACK DORSEY AND DALE EISMAN, STAFF WRITERS
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Long : 108 lines
Refugees in their own right, the first of 2,500 Navy personnel and their families arrived here Wednesday from Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to begin the task of relocating their families in the United States.
The 300 who stepped off the giant commercial airliner at Norfolk Naval Air Station shortly after 3 p.m. looked tired from the three-hour flight and haggard from carrying car seats, strollers and children.
But they were quickly met by an army of sailors who catered to their every need in what local officials have called ``Operation Sincere Welcome.''
Earlier in the day, at Guantanamo, parents fought tight-lipped battles with their emotions, sometimes losing. The evacuees are mostly single parents and children, or families in which both parents are in the military.
The military allowed only one parent to escort each family with children. Navy and Marine members stationed at Guantanamo will get only a few days to resettle their children with families in the U.S. and will have to be back at work by next week.
An unexpected influx of thousands of Cubans fleeing their country, plus more than 14,000 Haitians who have been housed at Guantanamo since fleeing their homeland early this summer, prompted the Pentagon to evacuate all dependents and nonessential civilian workers in the base's population of 5,400.
In Norfolk, Navy volunteers took care of their luggage, pets, hotel reservations and other necessities, but the evacuees did not hesitate to register their displeasure at having to leave Cuba.
``We'll have a base without children,'' said Noreen Mathison, a third-class petty officer who will leave her 2 1/2-year-old son with his grandmother in New York. ``I want to get him back down there. We don't have a lot of the luxuries that you have in the United States, but what we have got is a great place to raise kids.''
Norma Cave, a petty officer, was upset at the military's refusal to help her escort her daughter to relatives in Puerto Rico. She said at least 15 other families are in the same situation. The military is paying to fly dependents anywhere in the continental United States, but Cave must come up with almost $800 to get her and her daughter to San Juan.
``To punish us like this - that's not fair,'' she said. ``I cannot afford it.''
Others directed their anger at Fidel Castro and his communist government in Havana.
``I'm angry with Castro and the Cubans and that side,'' said Navy petty officer Karina Mangione. ``They haven't taken him out of power. I feel sorry for them but now they're infringing on my family's rights as a U.S. citizen.''
Making flight schedules Wednesday posed the biggest headache, with a police motorcycle escort afforded some of the families trying to catch flights out of Norfolk International Airport.
In all Wednesday, 117 families flew into Norfolk on a chartered Lockheed L-1011. Of those, 68 families were planning to remain in Norfolk at least overnight and another 23 families were trying to catch flights out of town. The status of 26 other families was not immediately known. Some were being met by friends who had driven to Norfolk.
The Navy expects its second plane load about midday today, then another flight or two each day through next week.
Navy officials said they are concerned about the availability of hotel rooms over the Labor Day weekend.
``It's going to be a problem because all rooms are booked on Saturday and Sunday,'' said John A. Panneton, president of the Hampton Roads Council of the Navy League of the United States. Among the options were crowding people into the Navy Lodge or bachelor officers' quarters at local bases.
Many hotel and motel owners cut their rates and reserved blocks of rooms to help house the families. In addition, merchants donated toys, food and phone calls.
More than 100 volunteers from the USO have staffed the welcome center and processing center, said Gail Young, deputy director. They plan to be there for the next 10 days, or however long it takes. ILLUSTRATION: CHRISTOPHER REDDICK/Staff color photos
Dana Shropshire, a Navy hospital corpsman, above, comforts her
daughter, Desire, 9, after flying to Norfolk Naval Air Station
Wednesday from Guantanamo Bay Naval Station. Shropshire and her
husband, Dennis, a chief petty officer, are on active duty at
Guantanamo Bay and will return there in 10 days. Story, A10.
An Army veternarian tends to a dog that reached Norfolk from
Guantanamo ahead of the flight that brought the pet's owners.
Graphics
TRACKING FAMILIES
Families seeking information on relocation of personnel from
Guantanamo can call these numbers in Norfolk.
Local calls
445-7541
445-7540
From outside the area
(800) 543-9088
(800) 543-9097
CUBAWATCH Wednesday
STAFF
SOURCE: U.S. Coast Guard, Defense Department, National Weather
Service
[For complete graphic, please see microfilm]
KEYWORDS: GUANTANAMO BAY CUBA EVACUATION by CNB