American sailors who thwarted pirates return to U.S.

ANDREWS AIR FORCE BASE, Md. – The saga of the American merchant seamen who clashed with Somali pirates on the high seas off Africa ended early Thursday with a big “welcome home” banner and the warm embrace of families.

A charter flight from Kenya brought the crew of the Maersk Alabama to Andrews Air Force Base, where they had a private reunion with their loved ones.

Missing was the Alabama’s skipper, who was still aboard the U.S. Navy destroyer that had saved him and which still was chasing pirates off the east coast of Africa.

The crewmen were greeted at Andrews about 1 a.m. EDT by several dozen family members who crowded onto the wet tarmac near the arriving plane, waving small flags in the unseasonably cool air. A bevy of reporters and cameras captured the scene, which included a banner adorned with yellow ribbons reading “Welcome Home Maersk Alabama” that shipping company employees erected near the runway.

The crowd erupted in cheers and whistles and applause as the crewman, carrying bags and belongings, climbed down a ramp from the plane to hugs and kisses from family members.

One crewman, carrying a child toward the terminal, shouted, “I’m happy to see my family.”

Another exclaimed: “God bless America.”

The crewmen did not stop to talk with reporters and quickly entered the terminal with their families, where a reception area was set aside for their privacy.

The crew was bused to the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center about 10 miles away, where they were to spend the night.

Before the crew left Kenya, third mate Colin Wright said he looked forward to hugging his mother when he touched down and advised everyone to embrace theirs.

“Everybody out there give your mother a hug,” he said. “Yeah, don’t wait. Life is precious. And what a beautiful world.”

One week ago, pirates took over the Alabama briefly before Capt. Richard Phillips surrendered himself in exchange for the safety of his 19-member crew. Phillips was freed Sunday after five days of being held hostage in a lifeboat when U.S. Navy SEAL snipers on the destroyer USS Bainbridge killed three of his captors.

The Alabama crew had scuffled with the pirates, wounding one of them with an ice pick, in taking back control of their ship. The bandits fled the ship with Phillips as their captive, holding him in the lifeboat in a high-stakes standoff until the SEAL sharpshooters took action.

The Bainbridge was diverted Tuesday to chase pirates attacking a second U.S. cargo ship, thereby delaying Phillips’ homecoming. The cargo ship, the Liberty Sun, escaped after sustaining damage from automatic weapons fire and rocket-propelled grenades.

Another chartered plane was waiting at the Mombasa airport for Phillips, a Kenyan airport official said.

Phillips’ wife, Andrea, and two children were still home in Vermont and did not know when or where they would meet him, said her mother, Catherine Coggio.

“We’re just so thankful that things have turned out the way they have,” Coggio told The Associated Press by phone from her home in Richmond, Vt.

Andrea Phillips, in a statement, celebrated the crew’s imminent return and said she understood why her husband could not make it home with them.

“Like Richard, I appreciate that the U.S. Navy is there to help other seafarers as well,” she said. “The most important thing is that Richard is safe, and our family owes that to the Navy. I am immensely proud of Richard, the crew and everything they did to assure each other’s safety.”

Serena Murphy, the wife of chief officer Shane Murphy, joked that she will take him hostage when he gets home to Seekonk, Mass.

“Well, I’m going to give him food and water,” she said on NBC’s “Today” show. “That’s a positive for him. But I think I’ll make the accommodations a lot more pleasant than the pirates did.”

Asked if she wants him to go back to sea, she said, “I personally don’t but I support him in whatever decision he decides to make.”

Wright, on ABC’s “Good Morning America,” said the experience won’t keep him off the water, but he hopes piracy can be stopped.

“I hope to be able to sail all of the waters of the world in safety,” said the Galveston, Texas, seaman. “And we’ve got to do something about pirates.”

The sister of second mate Ken Quinn was praying for him to get safely back home. She told CBS’ “The Early Show” that her brother, who lives in Bradenton, Fla., had e-mailed her that “he’s having nightmares about being in the dark room where they were hiding and the pirates shooting into the dark.”