Thanksgiving Comes Early for Turner, Family : Freedom: ‘Daddy?’ asks the daughter born while he was held hostage. Then, they sit down to a turkey dinner to celebrate.

“Daddy?”

The question came from a hopeful 4-year-old with red ribbons in her hair.

“Yes, sweetheart,” replied Jesse Turner, and with that tender exchange, another freed American hostage began his life again.

He started by celebrating Thanksgiving. It didn’t matter that it was Wednesday instead of Thursday, or October instead of November, or even that it was Germany instead of America. All that mattered was that the family whose memories saw him through 1,731 days of captivity in Lebanon were there to share it with him.

“He is the same Jonny I met on the first day,” declared his Lebanese-born wife, Badr, using her husband’s nickname.

The 44-year-old college professor from Boise, Ida., did not want to talk about his ordeal, even with his wife and mother, who later held a news conference to describe the family reunion.

But two days after his release by Muslim extremists in Beirut, Turner was given a clean bill of health by military doctors and psychiatrists who helped him make the transition from isolation to adulation. He and his family shared an early Thanksgiving meal of turkey, stuffing, cranberries, vegetables, salad and chocolate brownies.

“He’s basically healthy,” said Col. Earl W. Ferguson, commander of the 7100th Combat Support Wing Medical Center here. But he added that Turner is weak from loss of muscle mass and muscle tone due to poor diet and lack of exercise.

Turner was expected to be ready to go home by today. “He is good looking, and in good health, thank God,” said his wife, “and now we will continue life as a family again.”

The most poignant moment came when Turner was introduced to Joanne, the daughter born shortly after terrorists posing as policemen kidnaped Turner and three other teachers from Beirut University College on Jan. 24, 1987.

“She said, ‘Daddy?’ in a nice voice,” recalled Badr Turner. “And he said, ‘Yes, sweetheart,’ and he looked at her all over, and then she came to us.”

Hours later, Joanne walked into the news conference still clutching the blond doll her father had given her.

“It was a wonderful moment,” said Turner’s mother, Estelle Ronneburg. “He was so kind and gentle with her. He let her lead the way so she wouldn’t be frightened by him. They got along really well.”

Badr Turner said Joanne knew her father from family photo albums and the stories her mother told her. Turner knew his child had been born but did not find out the gender until he read it in a newspaper five months later, his wife said. Thoughts of his family helped Turner cope with captivity, his wife said, and the mathematics professor never gave up hope that he would see his loved ones again. “He knew always that someday he would get out,” she said.

Both his wife and mother said Turner had refused to discuss details of his ordeal, which came to an end under a deal brokered by the United Nations between Israel and the hostage-holders. Four Americans, two Germans, and Italian and a Briton are still being held by kidnapers in Lebanon.

“He prefers not to discuss the situation he lived under, and he doesn’t want to discuss any of the things that might have happened to him,” said Turner’s mother. “He might want to later.” His wife said she and her husband “told how much we missed each other.”

“I have so much to tell him!” she added.

Neither Turner’s family nor his doctors would say whether Turner had seen any of the other hostages. He is thought to have been held with Alann Steen, the last of his university colleagues still held hostage.

Ferguson said Turner initially lost “a great deal” of weight in captivity but had been fattened up and even given vitamins over the last 18 months.

The hospital commander refused to discuss the conditions under which Turner was held but said he was so weak from lack of exercise that “his muscles are sore just walking up and down the halls of the hospital.”

“His mental health is sound, and he has maintained a sense of humor,” Ferguson said. “The process is going very well. He’s remarkably stable.”

Ferguson said the first few days of re-integration “are very critical” for former hostages, who often feel overwhelmed by the attention after living in isolation so long. “One of the first things he wanted was some peace and quiet and to be left alone after he arrived last night,” Ferguson said.

He said counselors are helping Turner and his family adjust. State Department debriefers were also meeting with Turner in hopes of learning more about the kidnapers and the hostages they hold.