Top Pentagon Officials, Kin Greet Ex-POWs

Twenty-one former prisoners of war returned to America from their “loneliness and dread” in Iraq and found themselves welcomed Sunday in a joyous and giddy ceremony infused with the mood of both Super Bowl extravaganza and religious solemnity.

As 20 of the prisoners stepped down from the plane, some hobbling, some limping and one--Army Specialist Melissa Rathbun-Nealy of Newaygo, Mich.--chewing gum strenuously, an Air Force master of ceremonies called out their names and services in the excited tones of a football announcer and a military band played “Tie a Yellow Ribbon ‘Round the Old Oak Tree.”

They were greeted at the end of a red carpet in the chill wind by Defense Secretary Dick Cheney and Gen. Colin L. Powell, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

The 21st former POW, 31-year-old Army Sgt. Daniel J. Stamaris Jr. of Boise, Ida., was airlifted to Andrews AFB on a separate medical evacuation plane and wheeled on a stretcher to the ceremonies. On one side of the stretcher, his mother continually stroked his hand. On the other side, his wife leaned over to kiss him again and again. Stamaris smiled broadly.

Stamaris’ colleagues had reached America after a festive 16-hour flight from Bahrain, replete with pizza, balloons, yellow bunting and a birthday cake for Rathbun-Nealy, who had turned 21 on Saturday. They flew in one of the Boeing 707s of the White House fleet.

The family members included gray-haired women in fur coats, toddlers flapping little American flags, a distinguished gentleman in a fedora bedecked with yellow bunting and patriotic buttons, men raising their fingers in the V-for-victory sign and young women stretching on their toes for a better look. Although they had been asked to wait until the end of the brief ceremonies, they could not keep from reaching out to the returning warriors from the waiting area behind a loose cordon. Nor could the former prisoners keep from stepping over the rope to hug their parents and spouses and children.

A crowd of several thousand well-wishers, flaunting homemade signs with messages such as “Welcome Home” and “Heroes,” cheered and clapped and whistled at the families and returnees a hundred yards or so away.

Only the playing of “The Star Spangled Banner” managed to call everyone to order, and it took the playing of several bars for the notes to make an impression on all the former prisoners. The stragglers quickly whirled around to salute the flag.

In a brief statement of welcome and thanks, Cheney told the group that “every American, every man and woman who cares for freedom, owes you a very special measure of gratitude.”

Cheney continued: “Nothing we say today can erase the loneliness and the dread that were your constant companions while prisoners of war. Only you and those who have shared this special ordeal can understand how it feels to return to freedom.”

Replying on behalf of his fellow prisoners, Air Force Col. David W. Eberly, 43, of Brazil, Ind., evoked a moment of quiet seriousness when he said: “Sir, I’m proud to report the conduct during captivity of the ladies and gentlemen beside me has been without question. Their sense of honor to duty and country has been beyond reproach.”

Eberly was obviously intent on stifling any lingering doubts about those American prisoners who were forced by their Iraqi captors to make anti-war statements on videotapes that were then played around the world. The image on one of those tapes of the battered face of 28-year-old Navy Lt. Jeffrey N. Zaun of Cherry Hill, N.J., seemed to symbolize the peril of the prisoners, forced to recite words that they did not mean. Concerned that the prisoners had been beaten and drugged, most Americans seemed to react to the incident in furious anger.

On a somewhat lighter note, Eberly added: “Someday--and I say someday, not Sunday--someday finally came and we’re glad to be home.”

After speaking only a few minutes, the former prisoner again addressed Cheney: “And, sir, if you’ll excuse us now, we have some time to make up with our families.”

The former POWs and their families then milled around for 10 minutes, some waving to television cameras as a signal to friends and family at home, before boarding buses that would take the returnees to various military medical centers in the Washington area for further testing.

Col. Wynn Mabry, an Air Force medical officer who had accompanied the former prisoners since their release from Iraq last week, said that “they are medically progressing very well.” In fact, he said, although some would require further medical care, their physical and mental recuperation had been “amazing.” Mabry added that Sgt. Stamaris, who was shot down while trying to rescue a downed pilot, might need surgery for his leg injuries.

The Pentagon said that the former POWs would not be made available to the press for several days, but Mabry recounted to journalists some of the tales that the POWs had told him. Mabry said that all of them had been kept in cells on the top floor of a Baghdad building that was next door to a military building--a prime target for allied planes.

Mabry said the prisoners owed their lives to the precision bombing of allied planes. No stray bombs demolished the prison. On Feb. 23, however, allied bombs came so close that their impact shattered the roofs of some cells and popped the door out of Zaun’s cell.

“When that happened,” Mabry went on, “he walked up to the roof of the building and looked up at the planes. It then dawned on him that it was a bad idea to be standing on the roof of a building during an allied raid, so he went down below.”