Injured Pilot Gets Hero’s Welcome in U.S. : Homecoming: Freed Somalia captive greeted by officials, 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 a firefight with forces of Somali faction leader Mohammed Farah Aidid.

The 32-year-old helicopter pilot was met by thousands of cheering, flag-waving well-wishers who waited to greet him and his wife, Lorrie, when they emerged from the Air Force C-9 that had transported him on the last leg of his journey.

In a brief stop at Andrews Air Force Base, outside Washington, before heading on to Ft. Campbell, where he has been stationed, Durant was greeted by a delegation headed by Secretary of State Warren Christopher. Also among the well-wishers were Republican Sen. Robert C. Smith of New Hampshire, Durant’s home state, and Smith’s wife, who gave the thumbs-up sign and hugged Durant’s wife.

Almost immediately, the injured pilot was transferred to a waiting Air Force plane for the journey to Kentucky. At a ceremony that could be seen through lighted airplane windows shortly before the plane took off, Durant was awarded a Purple Heart for his injuries by Gen. Gordon Sullivan, the Army chief of staff.

National Security Adviser Anthony Lake, among those who met Durant, told reporters later: “He said he’s proud to be an American. . . . He said he appreciates the President’s call to him on Thursday.” Lake said he extended an invitation from President Clinton to visit the White House when Durant is feeling better and that Durant had accepted.

Earlier, the President 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 began when a company of elite U.S. Rangers was ambushed by an Aidid-backed militia after trying to apprehend several top Aidid lieutenants, was the worst such debacle in years and prompted Clinton to alter his 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 on 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 fresher one that read, simply, “Welcome Home, Mike.” Yellow ribbons hung from two of the four white columns that stood like sentries at the front of the house. Multicolored balloons dangled from the mailbox, and two American flags waved from the flower box on the front porch.

Meanwhile, the excitement was palpable in downtown Clarksville, a town of 80,000 on the Tennessee-Kentucky border.

Angie Magness, whose husband, John, served with Durant in Somalia and is still stationed there, said: “We are all very relieved and excited, and hope the rest of them are coming home. At the same time, we don’t want the ones who were lost to be forgotten.”

Army physicians said Saturday they feel confident that Durant will be able to resume his career as a pilot but not until he undergoes an operation to insert a stainless steel rod in his broken right leg. He is expected to be taken to the Florence A. Blanchfield Army Community hospital for further treatment.

Doctors at the U.S. Army hospital in Landstuhl, Germany, where Durant was treated before his homecoming, 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 until now 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 (pizza) waiting for him,” said Col. Robert Mirelson, a military spokesman. 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 contributed to this report.