California IN BRIEF : ALAMEDA : Last Bay Area Ships Return From Gulf

The last two ships based in the San Francisco Bay Area have returned from the Persian Gulf War. Hundreds of family members and friends turned out to welcome home the 659-foot-long Kansas City when it arrived at Alameda Naval Air Station. The Shasta, an ammunition ship, docked at the Concord Naval Weapons Station. A Navy band played as yellow ribbons and balloons waved in the breeze when the Kansas City arrived. The crowd included Preston Parker, 4, whose father, Randy, is a sailor on the ship. The little boy, whose birthday was May 6, hugged his father tightly. “He didn’t want to have his birthday until his dad came home,” said his mother, Lillian.