2 Ex-Captives Are Reunited With Families : Hostage crisis: Terry Waite goes home to England. Wife, daughters and brothers greet American Thomas Sutherland in Germany.

Briton Terry Waite and American Thomas M. Sutherland spent their first day of freedom in emotional fashion Tuesday, reuniting with their families, condemning their kidnaping and offering the hope that those still held hostage in the Middle East soon will be freed.

Waite, 52, came home to England after spending almost five years as a hostage, imprisoned while seeking the release of other captives in Lebanon.

After spending a night at a British military base in Cyprus and arriving on a Royal Air Force plane at Lyneham Air Base west of London in a downpour, Waite stated his “trust” that the guerrilla groups would “honor that commitment” that they made to him to release the three remaining American captives.

“Ladies and gentlemen, I think you can imagine that after 1,763 days in chains, it’s an overwhelming experience to come back and receive your greetings,” said Waite, who gave an elegantly phrased speech. “From the bottom of my heart, thank you for turning out on such an awful day, but a typically English day, and thank you so much for your welcome.”

The Church of England envoy was accompanied from Cyprus by his brother, David, and later met his wife, Frances, and children--twins Ruth and Clare, 26, Gillian, 25, and Mark, 20.

Also on hand was Lord Robert Runcie, for whom Waite served as special envoy when the former was Archbishop of Canterbury.

Waite, tall and bearded, said on arrival that he was happy to see Lord Runcie “looking as fit and as well as ever, and who I know has kept all of us close to his heart and his prayers and his active work in the last years.”

Meantime, in Wiesbaden, Germany, an ebullient Sutherland spent his first day of freedom in the warm embrace of his family. Half a dozen family members converged on the U.S. Air Force Hospital in Wiesbaden to greet Sutherland after his pre-dawn arrival from the Middle East. Sutherland was cheerful and chatty despite the hour and the cold rain.

Posing for photographs on the hospital balcony Tuesday afternoon, he flexed his muscles and gave two thumbs-up to signal that he was in good shape. He hugged his wife, Jean, and grown daughters Kit and Joan, who flew in from the United States. Two brothers, Wayne and Peter, came from Sutherland’s native Scotland for the joyful reunion.

Sutherland and his family promised to hold a press conference today to talk about their reunion and Sutherland’s captivity.

Later Tuesday, President Bush phoned Sutherland in Wiesbaden to wish him well.

The 60-year-old professor of agriculture appeared to be in good health and high spirits after being freed Monday by Islamic extremists, whom he has portrayed as remorseful in the end over his ordeal.

Hospital spokesmen said Sutherland would undergo routine medical and dental tests and meet with State Department debriefers before leaving Thursday for Iowa, where his father-in-law is being buried Friday. His father-in-law’s funeral was delayed because of Sutherland’s release.

Military spokesman Cmdr. John Woodhouse said Sutherland had made “no special requests” yet at Wiesbaden, and was choosing his meals from the regular hospital menu. After eating steak aboard his five-hour flight from Damascus, Syria, Sutherland had a dawn breakfast awaiting him in Germany of honey buns, English muffins, apples, grapes and tomato juice.

His wife and daughter Kit, who arrived in time for lunch, visited with Sutherland over a feast of baked chicken, green beans, mashed potatoes and gravy, tossed salad and strawberry tarts. The dinner menu was roast pork, more mashed potatoes and gravy, spinach and a tomato salad, with hot tea to drink.

In his airport remarks, Waite was generous in thanking all those who worked for his release. He also repeated his hope that the other hostages in Lebanon soon would be freed.

“My captors assured me yesterday that in a few days time Joseph Cicippio and Alann Steen, the two American hostages, will be released,” Waite said. “They also assured me that Terry Anderson, a journalist of whom the journalistic profession can be justly proud, will be released by the end of this month.”

Waite spoke of having been kept “in total and complete isolation for four years. I saw no one and spoke to no one apart from a cursory word with my guards when they brought me food.”

But he said he had received a postcard “out of the blue” showing a stained-glass window depicting the English preacher John Bunyan in jail.

He recalled his thoughts then: “I looked at that card and I thought--’My word, Bunyan! You’re a lucky fellow. You’ve got a window out of which you can look, see the sky, and here am I in a dark room. You’ve got a pen and ink, you can write. But here I am, I’ve got nothing, and you’ve got your own clothes and a table and a chair.’ And I turned the card over and there was a message from someone whom I didn’t know simply saying, ‘We remember, we shall not forget.’ ”

Waite further told the gathering: “On this day, it would not be right for me to leave this podium without remembering all those, and all those in particular in the Middle East, who are held captive.” He denounced the taking of hostages, saying: “It is wrong to hold people in such a way. It is self-defeating, and those who do it fall well below civilized standards of behavior, no matter who they are, no matter what nationality or what organization they belong to.

“We have lived in these last years through the appalling sufferings of the people of Lebanon,” he noted. “We have been in the midst of shelling. We have seen people die and killed in most brutal ways.

“We know the people of Lebanon have suffered greatly, and those from whom I have just come can be assured that we in the church . . . will not rest until all are freed and there is justice and peace brought to people who deserve a better deal,” Waite said.

Tuohy reported from London and Jones from Wiesbaden, Germany.