Injured Pilot Gets Hero’s Welcome in U.S. : Return: Freed Somalia captive greeted by officials, medal, many well-wishers.

Chief Warrant Officer Michael J. Durant returned home to a hero’s welcome late Saturday night following 11 days in captivity after his helicopter was shot down during an Oct. 3 firefight against Somali faction leader Mohammed Farah Aidid’s militia.

The 32-year-old helicopter pilot was met by 4,000 cheering, flag-waving well-wishers as he and his wife, Lorrie, emerged from the Air Force C-9 that flew them on the last leg of their journey.

Durant, holding his arm high in the air and clutching the maroon beret that is a trademark of his Night Stalker airborne unit, was flanked by comrades dressed in camouflage fatigues as he was carried on a stretcher through the waiting throng.

He was accompanied down the jet ramp by family members, including his parents, Leon and Louise Durant, and his 14-month-old son, Joseph, who were permitted to board the plane for a private reunion moments after it landed.

Post commander Maj. Gen. John Keane called Durant “our hero.”

“This is your last stop,” Keane said. “We’re going to take care of you. We’re going to get you on your feet and back in your cockpit. . . . We love you, and God bless you.”

As in earlier appearances, Durant declined to speak before television cameras and was taken immediately to a waiting ambulance that was to speed him to Florence A. Blanchfield Army Community Hospital.

Only hours before, Durant had touched down at Andrews Air Force Base outside Washington, his first stop on U.S. soil. There a delegation headed by Secretary of State Warren Christopher greeted him as he was transferred by gurney from the giant C-141 transport plane that had flown him from the U.S. Army hospital in Landstuhl, Germany.

Almost immediately, the injured pilot was taken to a waiting Air Force plane for the final journey to Kentucky and home. At a ceremony that could be seen through lighted airplane windows shortly before the plane took off, Durant was awarded a Purple Heart and an Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal by Gen. Gordon Sullivan, the Army chief of staff.

Earlier, President Clinton said he was “thankful beyond words” that Durant was being reunited with his family and that it seemed likely now he would recover from the wounds he received when his helicopter was shot down.

“At the same time,” the President said in his weekly radio address, “our hearts and the hearts of all Americans go out to the 18 families (of U.S. servicemen who were killed in the Oct. 3 attack) who are grieving tonight for their loved ones . . . and to nearly 100 others who were wounded.”

The battle, which came after a company of U.S. Rangers was ambushed by Aidid-backed militia after it tried to apprehend several top Aidid lieutenants, was the worst such debacle in years and prompted Clinton to reverse his previous tactics in Somalia.

In anticipation of Durant’s homecoming at Ft. Campbell and the nearby town of Clarksville, Tenn., where the pilot lives with his wife and son, friends and well-wishers had tacked thousands of yellow ribbons, some fading in a misty rain, on anything that stood still: tree trunks, utility poles, storefronts and homes.

At the Durants’ single-story brick home about five miles from the center of town, a fading sign that bore the hopeful message, “Hurry Home, Mike. We Love You,” had been upstaged by a new, fresher one that read, simply, “Welcome Home, Mike.”

Durant’s parents, pleading a need for privacy, initially declined comment but later issued a statement saying: “We’re very proud of Mike as a son and a soldier. His courage and his great sense of humor have enabled us to endure this ordeal. God bless America for the outpouring of love and prayers. Mike is free. We all love him.”

Army physicians said Saturday that they feel confident Durant will eventually be able to resume his career as a pilot.

Doctors said all of Durant’s injuries, with the exception of a superficial shrapnel wound on his arm, were a result of the crash, not hostile fire or subsequent treatment by his Somali captors.

Officials said Durant, who suffered nausea from the anesthesia, will be gradually weaned from his liquid diet, which has prevented them from granting his one request: a large pepperoni pizza with extra cheese.

“I am sure by the time he gets back to the States there will probably be a Domino’s (pizza) waiting for him,” said military spokesman Col. Robert Mirelson. Durant had said earlier what he missed most during his captivity was pizza.

Stanley reported from Ft. Campbell and Murphy from Landstuhl. Times staff writer Art Pine in Washington also contributed to this article.