Through binoculars and camera lenses, they tried to see close-as-a-kiss reunions at the Navy base below.
Perched on the bluff at Everett’s Grand Avenue Park, they were too far away to feel the heat. At Naval Station Everett Monday, crew members from the USS Ingraham were likely oblivious to the raw wind. After six months away, the sight of a wife or the hug of a child must be instant warmth.
The crew of 220-some was also perhaps oblivious to welcoming parties gathered on Rucker Hill and in parks overlooking Port Gardner Bay.
Strangers stood in the distance, in the cold, to see the frigate come home from its unexpected wartime deployment to the Arabian Sea. The Ingraham was part of the Bremerton-based aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson’s battle group, which launched the first strikes against Taliban and al-Qaida forces in Afghanistan.
The strangers nevertheless felt a kinship with the returning sailors.
"I’m just happy for their families," said Mary Jo Ballou, who lives nearby on Colby Avenue.
With schools out for the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday, Hilary Melander drove from Snohomish with her three children to see the homecoming.
"We want the kids to understand how important our freedom is," said Melander, who was shivering along with 10-year-old Cody, Mitchell, 8, and 4-year-old Kira.
Asked how she’d fare if her husband, Eric, had to be away six months, she said, "That would be so hard."
Arlene Herrick, who waited half an hour for the Ingraham, recalled the difficulty of being apart from her late husband, Bill, when he was at sea with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. "It’s pretty sad, pretty difficult," the Everett woman said.
Carol Macy, in the park with her 14-year-old son, Shaun, said she’s been more aware of the sailors’ sacrifices since Sept. 11. Macy had concerns about her home becoming a Navy town before the base was built, "but it’s been a real positive," she said.
That was echoed by Everett native Paula McCulloch.
"When I first heard the Navy was coming, I didn’t like it. I thought it would bring hoodlums and strip joints," McCulloch said. "So many of the Navy folks are really, really nice. My mom sold a camper to a guy and practically adopted him.
"It’s always a nice sight, a ship coming home," she added.
Daniel Pradera has another perspective, that of someone who’s seen the sight of home from an inbound ship.
The Marysville man retired from the Navy in 1995 after 20 years. He spent his last three years aboard the Everett-based Ingraham.
"With Everett being a smaller community, you feel that welcome more," he said. "I was stationed in San Diego, and it’s different there. For a small ship like that with a couple hundred people, it’s like, ‘Another ship came back, no big deal.’ "
Pradera also knows that after the dockside embraces will come a challenging period for some families.
"There are a lot of expectations. And there’s readjusting to family life, and the family readjusting to you. A spouse has been running the show for sixth months, and kids have listened to just one person. Now Dad is home. Especially if kids are little, you’ve been gone half their lifetime," said Pradera, who raised two children with his wife, Gina.
Struggles aside, there’s no place like home.
"There’s such a difference in other places in the world," Pradera said. "You just can’t wait to be home and have everything back to normal.
"It’s the little things — family life, going to McDonald’s, watching TV. It’s great."
At Grand Avenue Park, Todd Swanson strolled up to a viewpoint with his children, Jacob, 11, and Kari, 7, and looked down at the Ingraham. He didn’t feel like a stranger.
"I don’t know anybody, but they’re part of us anyway," the Everett man said.
Contact Julie Muhlstein via e-mail at muhlsteinjulie@heraldnet.com, write to her at The Herald, P.O. Box 930, Everett, WA 98206, or call 425-339-3460.
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