Somebody tell Scrooge to step aside.
Navy Lt. Cmdr. Dennis Callahan’s eyes will scan the stage this weekend, looking for an actor he has traveled halfway around the world to see. Barton Glasser / The Herald
And come Sunday in Stanwood, he’ll be sitting in a different theater, searching for his favorite mouse in the house.
Callahan came home to Whidbey Island Naval Air Station on Thursday when the final two aircraft from Patrol Squadron 46 returned from a six-month deployment in Japan.
The Navy pilot made it home in time for the holidays. But Callahan also got back in time to see two of his four children step in front of the floodlights.
Andrew Callahan, 9, is one of the Cratchit children in the Anacortes Community Theatre’s production of “A Christmas Carol.” And Grace Callahan, 6, plays a little mouse in the Northwest Ballet Theatre’s production of “The Nutcracker.”
Both of the pint-sized performers were there to greet their father when he touched down in Oak Harbor. Like their younger brothers Ethan, 4, and Aidan, 11 months, they were dressed for the holidays in matching green and red outfits.
The homecoming itself was a good show. A crowd of several hundred waited in Hangar 7 for the squadron’s final two planes to come home.
A buzzer rang for minutes like a broken school bell as the huge hangar doors opened and the two P-3C Orions slowly rolled up into view on the tarmac outside.
Kids in the hangar began jumping up and down, frantically waving yellow pompoms.
A collective scream erupted when the doors opened on the planes, and a second shout went out when ladders popped out and touched the pavement.
Then, a lone figure playing the bagpipes exited one of the aircraft and walked slowly toward the crowd. The sounds of “Amazing Grace” filled the air. Two lines of sailors, some grim-faced, others smiling, filed out of planes.
Some couldn’t stand the drama. Several wives broke ranks and ran to their husbands for welcome-home kisses.
Callahan dropped to a knee and pulled in his three oldest for a hug. His wife, Sarah, leaned in as the sailor embraced his children for many long moments.
“To see them all here together, it’s pretty emotional,” Callahan said. He turned to his toddler.
“He doesn’t look the same,” Callahan said. “He was a little bitty baby when I left. Now he’s almost walking.”
Similar reunions played out throughout the hangar.
“You don’t realize how much you miss it until you land in Whidbey and the hatch opens,” squadron commander Scott Cooledge said.
The unit, nicknamed the “Grey Knights,” deployed in May to the western Pacific and Indian oceans. The deployment, the first for VP-46 since it came home from Iraq in June 2003, included 30 missions over the Philippines that were part of the global war against terrorism.
“The squadron performed flawlessly,” Cooledge said, adding that VP-46 logged 3,000 hours of flight time with no mishaps.
Judging from the crowd around Lt. j.g. DJ Litrun, the squadron’s performance was good through the final curtain. Litrun was accepting accolades for his bagpipe playing.
He bought a used set of bagpipes years ago in Scotland and taught himself to play. But Litrun caught the skipper’s ear when he played them at his first all-officers’ meeting.
“I’ve been his personal piper since that day,” Litrun said, adding that’s why the commander wouldn’t let him fly home with the first planes.
“He said, ‘You’re going on the last plane home with me.’”
Reporter Brian Kelly: 425-339-3422 or kelly@heraldnet.com.
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