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American Morning

Four American Soldiers From Same Family Safe at Home

Aired September 01, 2003 - 07:15   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.


LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Thousands of American families have celebrated the safe return of loved ones coming back from Iraq, but you can understand how Mary and Ronald Harper of Bell -- Belleview, Florida -- I should say -- would be a bit more relieved than most families would be, because four of their children plus a son-in-law all served in Iraq, but now all five are back home.
And we've spoken to mom and dad a couple of times since the war began. They're with us now from Belleview, along with their sons, Sean, Bobby and Ron. Shawn (ph). Good to have you folks all back together once again.

As I understand it, Ron, this is the -- yesterday was the first time that you all had been back together?

RON HARPER, FATHER OF SOLDIERS: Yes, sir, it was.

HARRIS: Tell us about it. How was it?

R. HARPER: It was a joyous occasion. It was amazing to send all of five of them over there and have all five of them return in one piece, and it was unbelievable. The backup we had through Operation Shoebox for these kids being over there and the support we had. We had a nice big party for them. We had a big turnout. We had a couple of local TV stations here filming it, and it was pretty wonderful. It was quite an experience.

HARRIS: Well, how about for you, mom?

MARY HARPER, MOTHER OF SOLDIERS: Oh, it's wonderful to have them back. We're definitely blessed for sure. And we must remember, though, that there are still a lot of thousands of soldiers still left over in Iraq and Afghanistan, so we want to -- even though ours are home and we're very blessed, want to continue to support those soldiers that are left behind and not able to reunite with their families at this time.

HARRIS: Shawn (ph), let's start with the Shawn (ph) that's on, let's say, on your right and my left. Shawn (ph), tell us about the time you all spent over in Iraq. Did you all ever have a chance or any opportunity to even see each other at all while you were over there?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I ran into Sean a lot, because he was right there at the sideline with me. But I had seen Becky maybe three times. I had never seen Chet (ph) and I had never seen Bobby for the whole deployment. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

HARRIS: Well, let's go for the other Sean then. Tell us about that. Did you ever have any doubts about the safety of the rest of your family while you were over there? There had to be some points, you know, when you really got concerned about each other.

PEC SEAN HARPER, U.S. ARMY: Yes, there were many times when I was really scared, because, you know, I didn't see my brothers. And, of course, you worry. So, you really don't know, especially at war.

HARRIS: Did you all do anything? Is there any way for you all to stay in touch at least through -- I don't know -- e-mail or something to at least, you know, give each other some sort of a -- at least some sort of a touch, you know, some sort of a touch point between all of you to keep your minds at least at ease, you know?

SEAN HARPER: No. Well, letters coming from home, maybe. And mom heard from, you know, one of the other boys, and she could tell where he's at maybe or what was going on. But, no, there was no way to get in touch with each other over there.

HARRIS: Yes. Now, Ron, now that it's all over, can you tell us, what was the toughest part about being away from all of your kids?

RON HARPER: Well, it was all tough. I think the hardest thing was -- I mean, you know, I love them all to death. I think the hardest thing was, though, to see Becky get on that plane to be deployed over there, due to the fact she's the oldest and she's a female. That was really hard. And then actually just to watch them all go, but that was really hard. Bobby also, him being the youngest, that was kind of difficult.

But like Mary said, we're blessed to have them all back, and my heart go out to the families who aren't as fortunate as we were to have -- you know, to their loved ones come home.

HARRIS: Well, we are certainly glad to have all of you back together and to have this great family photo to show the country. Congratulations, and welcome home, folks. Take care.

MARY HARPER: Thank you.

RONALD HARPER: Thank you.

MARY HARPER: Thank you.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.







Aired September 1, 2003 - 07:15   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Thousands of American families have celebrated the safe return of loved ones coming back from Iraq, but you can understand how Mary and Ronald Harper of Bell -- Belleview, Florida -- I should say -- would be a bit more relieved than most families would be, because four of their children plus a son-in-law all served in Iraq, but now all five are back home.
And we've spoken to mom and dad a couple of times since the war began. They're with us now from Belleview, along with their sons, Sean, Bobby and Ron. Shawn (ph). Good to have you folks all back together once again.

As I understand it, Ron, this is the -- yesterday was the first time that you all had been back together?

RON HARPER, FATHER OF SOLDIERS: Yes, sir, it was.

HARRIS: Tell us about it. How was it?

R. HARPER: It was a joyous occasion. It was amazing to send all of five of them over there and have all five of them return in one piece, and it was unbelievable. The backup we had through Operation Shoebox for these kids being over there and the support we had. We had a nice big party for them. We had a big turnout. We had a couple of local TV stations here filming it, and it was pretty wonderful. It was quite an experience.

HARRIS: Well, how about for you, mom?

MARY HARPER, MOTHER OF SOLDIERS: Oh, it's wonderful to have them back. We're definitely blessed for sure. And we must remember, though, that there are still a lot of thousands of soldiers still left over in Iraq and Afghanistan, so we want to -- even though ours are home and we're very blessed, want to continue to support those soldiers that are left behind and not able to reunite with their families at this time.

HARRIS: Shawn (ph), let's start with the Shawn (ph) that's on, let's say, on your right and my left. Shawn (ph), tell us about the time you all spent over in Iraq. Did you all ever have a chance or any opportunity to even see each other at all while you were over there?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I ran into Sean a lot, because he was right there at the sideline with me. But I had seen Becky maybe three times. I had never seen Chet (ph) and I had never seen Bobby for the whole deployment. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

HARRIS: Well, let's go for the other Sean then. Tell us about that. Did you ever have any doubts about the safety of the rest of your family while you were over there? There had to be some points, you know, when you really got concerned about each other.

PEC SEAN HARPER, U.S. ARMY: Yes, there were many times when I was really scared, because, you know, I didn't see my brothers. And, of course, you worry. So, you really don't know, especially at war.

HARRIS: Did you all do anything? Is there any way for you all to stay in touch at least through -- I don't know -- e-mail or something to at least, you know, give each other some sort of a -- at least some sort of a touch, you know, some sort of a touch point between all of you to keep your minds at least at ease, you know?

SEAN HARPER: No. Well, letters coming from home, maybe. And mom heard from, you know, one of the other boys, and she could tell where he's at maybe or what was going on. But, no, there was no way to get in touch with each other over there.

HARRIS: Yes. Now, Ron, now that it's all over, can you tell us, what was the toughest part about being away from all of your kids?

RON HARPER: Well, it was all tough. I think the hardest thing was -- I mean, you know, I love them all to death. I think the hardest thing was, though, to see Becky get on that plane to be deployed over there, due to the fact she's the oldest and she's a female. That was really hard. And then actually just to watch them all go, but that was really hard. Bobby also, him being the youngest, that was kind of difficult.

But like Mary said, we're blessed to have them all back, and my heart go out to the families who aren't as fortunate as we were to have -- you know, to their loved ones come home.

HARRIS: Well, we are certainly glad to have all of you back together and to have this great family photo to show the country. Congratulations, and welcome home, folks. Take care.

MARY HARPER: Thank you.

RONALD HARPER: Thank you.

MARY HARPER: Thank you.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.