From the S&S archives:
Thousands greet Midway battle group at Yokosuka

YOKOSUKA NAVAL BASE — Dizzy with relief, families at this base threw a high-powered homecoming party Wednesday for about 6,000 sailors aboard five warships of the USS Midway battle group upon the vessels' return from the Persian Gulf war.

The aircraft carrier USS Midway, along with the cruiser USS Mobile Bay, the frigate USS Curts and the destroyers USS Oldendorf and Fife, left Japan for the Mideast on Oct. 2. On station in the Arabian Sea and the Persian Gulf, the ships took part in the United Nations' embargo of Iraq and the monthlong war that followed.

"I promised myself that I wouldn't cry, but the feeling is too overwhelming," said Mitzi Crafton as tears welled up when she spotted her son Eric at the rail of the Mobile Bay on its pierside arrival.

Like many of the thousands of other moms, dads, wives, and friends on hand, Crafton flew to Japan from the United States to greet her son, an ensign who works as an engineer aboard the Mobile Bay.

"It was worth every leg of the trip to see him," said Mary Tuohy, who traveled from the states to surprise her boyfriend, Lt. Tom Kons, an anti-submarine warfare officer on the Mobile Bay.

However, most of the families who turned out for the arrival live in Japan, as the battle group is based here.

"The kids worried a lot about their father," said Yukie Williston while she waited for her husband, Chief Petty Officer Wade Williston, a crewmember aboard the Oldendorf. "Our seven-year-old knew that his dad was in danger, and he kept telling me every day. And our three-year-old kept asking, `when is Daddy coming back?' "

But that question quickly faded Wednesday. When Kevin Williston spotted his dad on the destroyer, a smile lit the boy's face.

Greenpeace war protesters in motor rafts awaited the ships with `No more war' chants. Japanese naval, whale boats kept the demonstrators away from the vessels, while police outside the base's gates discouraged the few demonstrators there.

Stepping off the Midway, Seaman Rett Shumate, a. cook, said "It's great to be back. It got awful monotonous out there, day after day..."

Over a beer, Seaman Albert Quintero of the Midway said that the most intense time of the deployment was the first early morning of the war.

"Everybody on the ship was awake. We all thought, `Man, we're gonna blow (Iraq) up.' "

Quintero, a plane captain assigned to an EA-6 Prowler squadron on the carrier, noted that none of those radar-jamming jets — nor any other planes in the air wing — received any battle damage.'

"I was surprised that all of the aircraft came back without any holes in them," Quintero said. "I prayed every day that the Navy would lose no pilots. It must have worked for the Midway."

As sailors streamed off the ship, Glenda Acasio said that "It's great to have my husband back, because during the war it was hard on the children. And there was no one for me to lean on," said the wife of Petty Officer 2nd Class Eugene Acasio, an electronics technician on the Midway. .

Seaman James Borer likely had one of the toughest jobs aboard the carrier during the war — building bombs for the warplanes in the ship's air wing.

"We were building bombs 24 hours a day, and it gets stressful,''' Borer said.

Borer said that the Midway's aircraft dropped mainly 1,000- and 2,000-pound iron bombs on targets in Kuwait, the northern Gulf and southern Iraq, hitting airfields, oil rigs and ships. "The Midway took out (Saddam Hussein's) Navy," he said.

The crowd that greeted the 4,500 sailors and Marines from the Midway formed a quarter-mile sea of flags, banners and balloons. Coolers full of wine, beer and champagne awaited men from all ships.

"I've been at Yokosuka seven years, and have never seen the whole base so excited," said Ray McMillon, a civilian who works at the Navy's headquarters building.

But not all sailors had someone awaiting them.

"The worst part of coming back is when there's no one to greet you," Seaman Marco Mancilla said. "I need to pull out the black (phone) book and call my girlfriends," said Mancilla, who works in the carrier's hanger bay.

Petty Officer 2nd Class James Gibson said that the hardest part of the deployment was the start of the war. "The anticipation was hard ... and once it got started we worked a lot of long hours," said Gibson, who handles aviation fuels. "But then everything started to fall into place, and it was like a routine."

What's Gibson going to do now that he's back in Japan?

"Relax. We deserve it."