[ WAR IN IRAQ ]
RICHARD WALKER / RWALKER@STARBULLETIN.COM
Josh Haberman held close his 8-month-old son, Lane, and his wife, Kasi, upon his return to Pearl Harbor yesterday aboard USS Paul Hamilton. The destroyer launched strikes on Afghanistan and Iraq during its 267-day deployment.
After 267 days at sea,
USS Paul Hamiltion is finally ...
Joelle Yamada's countdown ended at 267 days yesterday as the destroyer USS Paul Hamilton passed Hospital Point and returned to its home port of Pearl Harbor.
At Bravo 23 pier, her husband Petty Officer Brent Yamada, a sonar technician on the Paul Hamilton admitted: "I was beginning to think we were never coming home."
The Paul Hamilton was one of three Pearl Harbor vessels that left last summer to join the USS Abraham Lincoln carrier battle group. After launching strikes against Afghanistan last fall and flying aerial missions as part of Operation Southern Watch over Iraq, the Lincoln, along with the Pearl Harbor-based submarine USS Cheyenne and the frigate USS Reuben James, made preparations in December to come home.
However its homecoming was postponed and the Lincoln battle group was ordered back to the Persian Gulf on New Year's Day in anticipation of the war in Iraq.
There Hamilton, with its crew of 322 sailors, won the distinction of firing the most Tomahawk cruise missiles at Baghdad and other targets .
RICHARD WALKER / RWALKER@STARBULLETIN.COM
The honor of "first kiss" went to Julia and Michael Fortenberry, who embraced yesterday on the bow of the USS Paul Hamilton upon Michael's return.
Capt. Philip Greene, who commands the six warships including Reuben James and Hamilton , declined to say exactly how many Tomahawks were fired by the Hamilton between March 19 and April 8. However, after the shooting ended, the Navy said 116 Tomahawks were fired by the Lincoln battle group.
All Greene would say yesterday was that the Hamilton was ready. "She responded when she was called upon. Like all of the ships over there, she did a great job."
When Hamilton left Pearl Harbor Aug. 2, Joelle Yamada started one of two timers on a tiny digital wristwatch. The other timer ticked off the number of days she has been married, which yesterday stood at 322.
Friday night she made a trip from home in Waipahu to the airport to buy him a lei.
Yesterday morning, she and several dozen spouses, family friends and other supporters were at Hospital Point to cheer Hamilton as it entered the Pearl Harbor channel.
RICHARD WALKER / RWALKER@STARBULLETIN.COM
Hula dancers greeted the returning USS Paul Hamilton at Pearl Harbor.
By 8 a.m. she and Karen Below were at Bravo pier with several hundred other spouses, family members and news media to welcome the Paul Hamilton home and greet the aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln, which arrived for an overnight stay at Pearl Harbor. The Lincoln was to leave today for its home port at Everett Naval Station in Washington.
Karen Below, who was married on Dec. 24, 2001, said she was looking forward to "a second honeymoon just to be together and to make up for lost time."
The last time she saw her husband, Petty Officer Russell Below, was in early July. An Australian resident, Karen Below was at home working on her immigration status when the Hamilton left Pearl Harbor.
Russell Below, an operations specialist on the Paul Hamilton, served on USS Milwaukee, an oiler, during the 1991 Persian Gulf War.
He said the difference between that conflict 12 years ago and the current U.S.-led offense against Iraq was "naval presence."
RICHARD WALKER / RWALKER@STARBULLETIN.COM
Justin Haskett, 5, got a better view on the shoulders of his mom, Shelley, as they greeted USS Paul Hamilton's arrival.
"The Navy really came to call," Below said, "and we took charge."
Greene said Hawaii was well represented in the latest Iraqi conflict. Two of the four destroyers he commands -- USS O'Kane and USS Paul Hamilton -- were part of 30-vessel flotilla that launched cruise Tomahawk missiles in the opening moments of the war. Also involved in that operations were the Pearl Harbor-based submarines USS Cheyenne, USS Columbia, USS Key West and USS Louisville.
The Cheyenne returned home Thursday.
The Lincoln battle group actually left the Persian Gulf twice heading for home. On New Year's Day, the battle group made a liberty stop in Australia before heading eastward.
But the latest Iraqi conflict postponed its homecoming. The time spent away from home was the longest naval deployment in the last 30 years.
Finally on April 9, Capt. Kendall Card, the commander of the Abraham Lincoln, was finally able to tell his crew of more than 5,500 sailors and aviators: "The Straits of Hormuz is in our rear view mirror and we're ready to head home."
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