Home base embraces EP-3 crew
| • | Lieutenant provides account of crew's ordeal |
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WHIDBEY ISLAND NAVAL AIR STATION, Wash. — Eventually, when the excitement of their son's return from China has wound down, Sandy and Mike Cecka will talk to him about their next code word.
Associated Press
When David Cecka joined the Navy six years ago, his mother insisted the family choose a secret code word — pomegranate — they could use to signal if he ever was in danger.
Navy Lt. j.g. Keith Kauffman welcomed home his wife, Navy Lt. j.g. Regina Kauffman, in ceremonies yesterday on Whidbey Island, Wash.
"He thought it was really silly," Sandy Cecka said. "But it was really important to me that if there was ever a situation, we'd have that in place."
When Cecka's parents e-mailed their son while he was being held last week on Hainan Island, they asked if he was near any pomegranates. Cecka, 28, said the island only had mangoes and papayas.
"That told me he was OK and he still had his good sense of humor," Mike Cecka said.
The Ceckas were among more than 7,000 people who gathered at Whidbey Island Naval Air Station yesterday to welcome home the Americans forced to land on Hainan Island after their collision with a Chinese jet fighter.
When Cecka returned, he hugged his wife, then held his 4-month-old son to coo at him.
"This is amazing," Cecka said. "Completely over the top. I have no words for this. I am so proud of our country."
Red, white and blue balloons and a 40-by-60 foot American flag decorated the hangar. Throughout the neighboring city of Oak Harbor, flags and "Welcome Home" signs were posted among yellow ribbons. The crowd waved small American flags outside the hangar.
Pilot Shane Osborn was first off the plane after it arrived at Whidbey, acknowledging the screaming crowd with a brief wave. He wiped his eye as he walked toward his family, then caught his girlfriend when she jumped into his arms. He carried her the last few feet across the tarmac before he disappeared into a crowd of hugging and crying family members.
One crew member paused to whip a stuffed animal out of his pocket to give to his young daughter as she leapt into his arms.
Crew members speaking to the media after the welcoming ceremony said the Chinese interrogators were interested in the sophisticated plane's equipment but received no information from the detainees.
Lt. j.g. Richard Payne of Pampa, Texas, said he was asked repeatedly to apologize for the incident. He said he — like the others — refused.
Once the pilots had managed to wrestle the crippled plane to the ground, the aircraft was immediately surrounded and boarded by Chinese military personnel, they said. They said the Chinese did not behave aggressively but seemed surprised.
The crew were removed from the plane and eventually taken to officers' housing on the base. They said that at first, they were allowed to mingle among themselves but that soon they were moved to other quarters. The three women were placed together, apart from the men, said Petty Officer 2nd Class Wendy Westbrook of Rock Creek, Ohio.
Crew members were confined to their rooms and allowed out only to eat and be interrogated.
Crew members will now be sent home for a monthlong leave.
"I just want to enjoy the moment," said Lt. j.g. Keith Kauffman, 29, who was anxiously awaiting the reunion with his wife, Lt. j.g. Regina Kauffman of Warminster, Pa. "I'm looking forward to being together and letting all the fear die off so we can get on with a normal life."
The Kauffmans, who met in flight school, have been married for almost two years. They were apart nine months of the first year, Keith Kauffman said. Soon, he will have to leave again for a training mission to Turkey.
More than anything, this experience has made him cherish their time together, he said.
"I'd like to take advantage of the time and not take it for granted," he said.
