PDA

View Full Version : Bone-chilling Temps Can’t Stop Heartwarming Homecoming at Cherry Point



thedrifter
02-06-09, 07:42 AM
Bone-chilling Temps Can’t Stop Heartwarming Homecoming at Cherry Point

By Philip Jones
Reporter
Published: February 6, 2009

Frigid overnight temperatures couldn’t keep dozens of family members from packing in to a hangar at MCAS Cherry Point to welcome home about 100 Marines from Iraq.

The homecoming wrapped up early Friday morning, and Nine On Your Side’s Philip Jones takes us inside the emotional reunion:

Temperatures were in the teens Friday morning as family members waited past the witching hour for about 100 Marines from Tactical Electronic Warfare Squadron 1 and Aviation Logisitics Squadron 14 to complete their journey back to Cherry Point after spending six months in Iraq.

And while the conditions were far from ideal, there’s no place else these folks would have rather been.

“I would come out in the rain, the snow, the sleet—any kind of weather,” said Melissa Hutson, from Havelock. “I would drive 5,000 miles to get to my husband.”

Hutson didn’t have to drive that far Friday.

But she did have to wait here for several hours for her husband to get back.

And then, just after 3 a.m., the bone-chilling wait turning in to a heartwarming homecoming.

Melissa’s husband—Staff Sergeant Cameron Hutson—says he thinks US forces are making progress in Iraq.

But that only goes so far in the fight against homesickness.

“It’s been hard,” SSgt. Hutson said. “Time away from family is always tough. When times get tough, you think about [coming home]—and that’s what keeps you going through every day. And every night before you go to sleep, that’s what you think about. You dream about this right here.”

A lot changed while these Marines were gone.

They now have a new commander-in-chief.

But for Hutson, the biggest and most important changes are in his seven-month-old daughter.

“When I left she was just a real little bundle of joy,” SSgt. Hutson said. “She didn’t do anything but slobber on herself and cry. And now, she’s big, she can smile.”

And like her two big brothers and her mom, she can take comfort in knowing her dad and his fellow Marines are home safe.

While they were deployed, the Marines of Tactical Electronic Warfare Squadron One supported ground forces through the use of electronic warfare techniques.

Marines in Aviation Logistics Squadron 14 provided maintenance support to the 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing.

Video
http://www.wnct.com/nct/news/local/article/bone-chilling_temps_cant_stop_heartwarming_homecoming_a t_cherry_point/31012/

Ellie