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CNN Sunday Morning
Sailors Leave Loved Ones Behind
Aired December 02, 2001 - 07:19 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.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Shipping out, going off to war and of course, leaving loved ones behind. Today's story from CNN national correspondent Frank Buckley.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
FRANK BUCKLEY, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): After the tears and good-byes...
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'll be here when you get home.
BUCKLEY: ... the men and women of the USS Pearl Harbor prepared themselves for war.
ADM. WILLIE MARSH, U.S. NAVY: As you know, the country is in fact in a conflict and we are certainly confident that you can handle anything that's thrown your way once you're over on station.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Pick in a line.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: All stations, did you copy?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right away, ship corners.
BUCKLEY: After the activity of getting under way for the Middle East, there were the final waves and mouthed messages, then, silence. Sailors and Marines side-by-side stealing themselves for the tough six-month deployment that lies ahead.
(on-camera): The men and women of this ship will be in close quarters for the next several months. This, a typical enlisted men's birthing area. This is about the only private space that each one will have. The bunks are stacked three high, and each one of the sailors have the privacy curtain that they can pull to have to some bit of privacy while they're onboard the ship.
As for personal effects, this is about the only storage space they have: the area underneath their racks. This is the private space they'll have for the next six months.
(voice-over): It is Seaman Sanford Jenson's first cruise. It is a special day. The father she hadn't seen since she was two came to see her off, to say that things a daughter wants to hear from her dad when she's going off to war. SEAMAN SANDRA JENSON, U.S. NAVY: Like I love you and I'll see you in six months. That kind of stuff.
BUCKLEY: It's always emotional aboard ship and on shore, as a warship leaves home, especially difficult though, when its crew may be headed into harm's way.
LT. COL. ROD SANDSONE, U.S. MARINE CORPS: I think it's a lot more emotional this time, particularly given September 11. A lot of tears being shed and a lot of emotion came on board Pearl Harbor.
BUCKLEY: Yes, the Pearl Harbor. This ship named in remembrance of the surprise attack that happened there on a day like September 11 that will indeed, among this crew anyway, live in infamy.
CMDR. RON KENNEDY, U.S. NAVY: September 11 and December 7, 1941 were surprise attacks on the United States of America and because of that, I and my crew are thinking about that all the time.
BUCKLEY: In fact, this ship is bound for Pearl for a December 7 commemoration before it steams to the Arabian Sea. But at San Diego, it began to slip away as the ship entered its routine, the reality of what lies after Hawaii began hitting home.
YEOMAN JAMIE MCILVANE, U.S. NAVY: It's kind of scary. I mean, you know, 21 years old and going on a ship, going out where the action is. You never know what's going to happen.
BUCKLEY: Especially, the Marines who may find themselves in Afghanistan.
SGT. ANDRE MAYES, U.S. MARINE CORPS: Going and doing what I'm trained to do to the best of my ability and make my country -- my family proud.
BUCKLEY: They have already done that.
Frank Buckley, CNN, aboard the USS Pearl Harbor off the coast of San Diego.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
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