THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, July 24, 1996 TAG: 9607240358
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JACK DORSEY, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: 88 lines
Families from Hampton Roads and across the nation swarmed the piers at the Norfolk Naval Station Tuesday, waving flags, balloons and placards to welcome home the George Washington Battle Group.
The homecoming ended a six-month deployment for 10 of the battle group's ships, which pulled into the Elizabeth River and sidled up to the Navy's docks under cool, cloudy morning skies.
Four ships of the Guam Amphibious Ready Group, deployed with the aircraft carrier George Washington in January, arrive home today to the naval station and the Little Creek Naval Amphibious Base to complete the homecoming.
Tuesday's crowded welcome - a variation on a scene repeated about every six months with the return of battle groups from the Mediterranean Sea - began with the appearance of two destroyers, an attack submarine and a guided-missile cruiser shortly before 8 a.m.
By lunchtime, six other ships, including the massive George Washington, had discharged thousands of homesick sailors onto the piers.
Tracy Boccella, the sister of one sailor, was nearly carried aloft as she gripped a 50-foot rope tethered to a helium-filled weather balloon, its surface painted with ``Tony and Kristi.''
``It's taking me up,'' she screamed, as she and brother Tony's fiance, Kristi Kimnack, waited for the ``GW'' to dock at Pier 11.
Awaiting Petty Officer Dan Craine nearby were his family and friends from New York. They brought a Buffalo Bills football flag on a long stick, explaining: ``He's the Bills' No. 1 fan.''
Elsewhere, families dashed from one side of the piers to the other to snap pictures of the returning sailors.
Mary Ellen Lisagor held a sign reading, ``Here Comes My Groom'' and ``Aug. 17,'' the day she plans to marry Ensign Dan Matthews of Portsmouth, a crew member of the guided missile cruiser San Jacinto.
``We met in college at the University of Virginia, and we're getting married in less than four weeks!'' said Lisagor, a nurse.
Petty Officer 1st Class Chris ``I-Man'' Iorio, another member of the San Jacinto's crew, returned home early. The sonar technician runs the shipboard radio station, ``WJAC,'' and borrowed a friend's sound system to entertain families at the pier.
Meanwhile, Petty Officer 2nd Class Sean Patterson stepped off the George Washington to find his New York family standing on the pier in T-shirts decorated with his picture.
His father, retired Warrant Officer Edward Patterson, still a member of the naval reserves, wore his summer white uniform to greet his son.
One eagerly anticipated homecoming didn't happen Tuesday. Petty Officer 1st Class Brandon McGhee, a sonar technician on the destroyer Arthur W. Radford, was supposed to step onto Pier 24 at 8 a.m. to find a new car waiting with his wife, Laurie, and two children.
But McGhee had a surprise of his own: He flew home a day early, calling his wife from the airport.
``The car was still at the dealership and wasn't ready to be picked up yet,'' Laurie McGhee said, laughing. ``It just goes to show you: Be careful if you plan a surprise around the Navy, because the Navy can surprise you right back.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color photos by HUY NGUYEN/The Virginian-Pilot
Jim Taylor greets his daughter, avionics technician Betsy Taylor,
shortly after her arrival Tuesday from a six-month deployment aboard
the aircraft carrier George Washington. A similar scene will be
repeated today with the Guam Ready Group's return.
At the end of his last cruise, Petty Officer 1st Class Andre Hill of
Virginia Beach is greeted by, from left, sister-in-law Gwen Beale,
son Jhere Hill, daughter Venita Hill and niece Phalyn Roulhac as he
leaves the George Washington.
[Dawn McGinniss, left, as she and her goddaughter, Erin Mitchell,
scan the decks of the Washington...]
KEYWORDS: HOMECOMING U.S. NAVY by CNB