Marines Back From Somalia : Homecoming: Head of U.S.-led force and staff return to El Toro with satisfaction of successful mission of mercy.

The commander of the U.S.-led multinational force and his staff, many describing the assignment as the most gratifying of their lives, returned from Somalia on Wednesday to an emotional, flag-waving welcome in Southern California.

Marine Lt. Gen. Robert B. Johnston, who stepped from a giant C-141 transport plane and into the arms of his wife, Sandra, at El Toro Marine Corps Air Station, said the strife-torn country he found in December is now in “good hands” and on a long road toward recovery.

“We have reversed the famine,” Johnston said after a flight that brought him here from Washington, where President Clinton earlier in the day honored him with the Distinguished Service Medal.

“The kids there are going back to school. In cities where you used to see 50 people moving through a major intersection, now you see 10,000. We have helped Somalia get back on its feet.”

The general, still attired in desert camouflage fatigues, and his staff were among the last Marines to depart Somalia on Tuesday, when command was formally transferred to the United Nations. About 4,000 U.S. troops will remain in Somalia to supplement the U.N. forces.

Well before the battleship-gray cargo plane taxied to a stop, family members of those on board gathered in bleachers erected on the Tarmac to await the arrival of their loved ones. Some carried flowers and children waved miniature flags as the plane suddenly appeared in the cloudless sky.

Among the crowd, Elliott Harvey of Oceanside rocked an oversized baby carriage that contained 18-month-old triplet daughters who had not seen their mother, Master Sgt. Barbara Harvey, since well before Christmas.

“I needed a lot more patience,” said Elliott Harvey, himself a retired Marine sergeant major, of his role as “Sergeant Major Dad.” Added Barbara Harvey: “My advice is to plan ahead on something like this, just like a military operation.”

One of the last ones off the plane, the Marine mom went straight for the stroller that had been specially decorated in red, white and blue bunting for the occasion. She held their tiny hands, caressed their arms and smothered Dominique, Renee and Frances with kisses.

“They’ve grown quite a bit,” she said. “My biggest fear? ‘Would they remember me?’ ”

Elliott Harvey, who said his wife’s absence was a “rude awakening” for him, was planning a public homecoming celebration Wednesday night.

“She’s done the job,” he said. “She deserves the attention.”

In his meeting with reporters, Johnston praised Harvey for her service, saying that she never complained of pressing personal demands.

“She underscores the quality of a Marine, male or female,” Johnston said. “She was staying to the very end.”

Others in the crowd rushed the plane when they caught their first glimpse of a familiar face.

“I’m trying to look for words,” said Katia Shelton, who with her 2-year-old son, Nicholas, awaited the arrival of Maj. David Shelton. “Oh, God, we’re just hoping for him to get home safe. It’s been a long time, but I agreed with this from the beginning. The starvation is not there anymore. There is some peace.”

Johnston’s return also marks the official end of the Marine presence in Somalia that included the service of about 900 men and women from the two local bases at El Toro and Tustin.

El Toro spokeswoman Capt. Betsy Sweatt said local Marines were deployed in Mogadishu, the capital, and at an airfield in Baledogle, about 50 miles northwest of the Mogadishu airport.

Throughout their stay, Sweatt said El Toro and Tustin forces provided helicopter air support for ground troops during skirmishes with bandits, delivered food in remote areas of the countryside and directed air traffic in and out of country. With daily operations requiring support from the air, local Marines were involved in hundreds of missions.

One of them, Sgt. Raymond Floyd, 28, of Tustin said that in December he drove from Philadelphia in three days just to join his Tustin air station helicopter unit in time for Operation Restore Hope for which he helped prepare 14 helicopters for shipment back and forth to Orange County.

“I didn’t go to Desert Storm,” said Floyd, who returned home last week. “I just wanted to put my knowledge to good use. I met people from all over the world. I had a lot of good experiences.”

Many of those returning Wednesday spoke of the mission as having sparked personal feelings of accomplishment, but none more strongly than Lt. Gen. Johnston.

“When we landed, you could smell dead bodies all over the place,” he said. “When I first got there, what we saw were expressionless children. Now, they are smiling and going to school. . . . To me, this mission was the most gratifying mission of my three decades as a Marine.”

While describing the mission as a “complete success,” the Camp Pendleton-based general said that not all of the gun-toting bandits have been removed from the countryside. He predicted that it could be at least a year before “a viable government structure” is in place.

Earlier in the day, during a Rose Garden ceremony at the White House, President Clinton told Johnston and about 50 of the troops newly returned from the Somali capital: “You have proved again that our involvement in multilateral operations need not be open-ended or ill-defined, that we can go abroad and accomplish some distinct objectives and then come home again when the mission is accomplished.”

“It was an honor,” Johnston said of the ceremony.

Asked to evaluate the potential commitment of U.S. military force in Bosnia, Johnston, who served as chief of staff to Gen. H. Norman Schwarzkopf in the Persian Gulf two years ago, warned of a “much more challenging” operation that would risk “many casualties.”

“Bosnia is a much different proposition,” Johnston said. “It involves different terrain and a much different enemy.”

In a related development, House Democrats pushed through a resolution belatedly authorizing American forces in Somalia. The Democrats on the House Foreign Affairs Committee also beat back attempts by Republicans on the panel to limit U.S. participation in the U.N. peacekeeping mission in Somalia.

The version passed and sent to the full House provides a 12-month authorization and says Congress will give “strong consideration” to extending that deadline. The Senate passed a similar resolution in February.

House Republicans complained that Clinton was being given carte-blanche to keep American troops in Somalia indefinitely.

“Where’s it going to stop?” asked Rep. Toby Roth (R-Wis.). “I don’t want American troops to become a ‘911’ for every hostile or trouble spot around the world.”

California Rep. Tom Lantos (D-San Mateo) urged Republicans to “refrain from partisan sniping,” saying it was “hypocritical in the extreme” to criticize Clinton for involvement in Somalia initiated by President Bush.