Two Navy Ships Return Home
JEANNE MESERVE, CNN ANCHOR: A pair of Navy ships returned to home port in San Diego today after helping with the Afghan campaign. Here's national correspondent Frank Buckley with the homecoming.</s>FRANK BUCKLEY, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): If they could kiss them, it meant they were finally here, sailors who served aboard the cruisers Princeton and Antietam, and aboard the USS Carl Vinson, all sailed into port after six months at sea.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They don't even know I'm here right now.</s>BUCKLEY: Sailors like Dan Ulley (ph), who waded into a sea of love, hundreds here at Pier 3. But the one that mattered most to Ulley (ph) -- his mom. New fathers on the ships looked into their new babies' eyes for the first time, or experienced the joy of a daughter's first smile.</s>ALPHONSO GUTIERREZ, NEW FATHER: There's no words that could describe -- I've been waiting for so long to see her, to be back home. It feels so good just to hold her in my arms.</s>BUCKLEY: Charlie Clark looked for his son-in-law, and saw himself. The retired senior chief, a Navy man for 26 years, taking it all in now from the shore side.</s>CHARLIE CLARK, U.S. NAVY (RET.): It's a nostalgia in seeing these families come in, especially to see their joy.</s>BUCKLEY: Six months of separation behind them now, the last four especially difficult, their country at war. (on camera): The ships were among the first to arrive on station in the Arabian Sea after the attacks on the U.S. on September 11. They were already in the region, and arrived on station September 12. (voice-over): The air wing on the carrier Carl Vinson was the first to launch strikes into Afghanistan. The squadrons came off the ship in San Diego, the rest of the ship's crew to arrive at its home port in Bremerton, Washington later this week. For the crews of the Antietam and Princeton, though, the day they've been waiting for finally arrived. They are home. Frank Buckley, CNN, San Diego.