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CNN Live Saturday

USS Enterprise's 5,000 Sailors Come Home

Aired November 10, 2001 - 17:25   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CATHERINE CALLAWAY, CNN ANCHOR: The long seven months at sea for the 5,000 sailors onboard the USS Enterprise finally over. The first U.S. aircraft carrier to report for combat duty in the war on terrorism docked in Norfolk, Virginia this morning.

CNN's Jeanne Meserve has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEANNE MESERVE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The Big E is back; back from danger, back from war. The carrier was originally headed home September 11, but turned around, and from its flight deck, now ringed with sailors, some of the first air strikes on Afghanistan were launched. Its role paralleled that of the World War II-era Enterprise after Pearl Harbor.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That Enterprise was the first to strike back against Japan on that attack and we were, of course, among the first to strike back against the terrorists that attacked our country.

MESERVE: The sailors and airmen onboard were glad to defend their country, but boy were they glad to be home. Waiting on shore: 90 babies born during the almost seven months the ship was away.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He just learned to sit up and he's, you know, cutting teeth, so he didn't miss too much. He didn't miss too much. It's kind of like he waited for his daddy to come home to get everything else out of the way.

MESERVE: The first meetings were tender, touching and often tearful. And reunions with older children were sometimes wrenching for dads, and for moms.

It took hours to get more than 4,000 sailors off the ship, an excruciating wait. But then somebody would get a glimpse of a husband, a wife, a son, a daughter, a friend, a fiancee and they'd hold on and hold on and hold on.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is my son and it's just really great to have him home. It's just really nice to see him and just to feel him and just get a hug and know that he's there.

MESERVE: Carrier life is never easy. Coming home is always great. But these sailors have truly served country and family, and their love for both could not have been more plain.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's thrilling, but you have a job to do, but -- and the only thing you have that makes you -- gives you hope is the people that's here waiting for you.

MESERVE: Jeanne Meserve, CNN, Norfolk, Virginia.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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