Cutter returns home to hugs
Bruce Asato • The Honolulu Advertiser
Jada Csonka, 2, gets a huge hug from her mom, Fireman Apprentice Trisha Csonka, who returned home aboard the Walnut, a U.S. Coast Guard buoy tender.
By Zenaida Serrano Espanol
Advertiser Staff Writer
The brief rainfall yesterday couldn't dampen Shawne Csonka as she eagerly awaited her daughter's homecoming at Sand Island.
Bruce Asato • The Honolulu Advertiser
"There she is!" the 39-year-old Red Hill resident screamed, her eyes filling with tears. Csonka had spotted 19-year-old Trisha Csonka, of the U.S. Coast Guard cutter Walnut.
The Walnut steams into Honolulu Harbor, with about 100 friends and family awaiting its crew.
Nearly 100 cheering family and friends greeted the 225-foot buoy tender.
The Walnut deployed to the North Arabian Gulf in January for Operation Iraqi Freedom.
The cutter conducted maritime interception operations to enforce United Nations sanctions against Iraq, participated in the search for two downed British helicopters and provided assistance to Coast Guard security personnel on captured Iraqi offshore oil terminals.
The crew of 43 was greeted yesterday with Tahitian dancers and welcome signs.
Signs like 2-year-old Jada Csonka's red-, white- and blue-penned: "Your My Hero Mommy."
Trisha Csonka, a fireman apprentice, was met with showers of kisses and lei that piled up to her chin. "I've missed my family dearly and I'm really, really happy to be home," Trisha Csonka said.
The Walnut's commanding officer, Cmdr. Chris Smith, said it was great to be back home with his wife, Norma, and children Ben, 8, and Megan, 5.
"I think we'll probably go out and grab something to eat. I'm just tired of the food on the ship," Smith said with a laugh.
