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NEWS FROM CNN
USS Abraham Lincoln Returns Home
Aired May 2, 2003 - 12:10 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Frank Buckley is aboard the aircraft carrier, the Abraham Lincoln, that's near San Diego, just touching San Diego right now, about to disembark, about to have some 5,000 sailors and Marines reunited with their loved ones.
Frank -- we interrupted you just a few moments ago. But bring us back up-to-speed. How close are these sailors and Marines to walking off the aircraft carrier and touching and feeling and kissing and hugging their families?
FRANK BUCKLEY, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, this is probably the most excruciating time for these family members. In some cases, they can actually see their loved ones over there, and they can't actually get off the ship yet.
The ship is moored. They've shifted colors. They haven't put the brow across yet. When they put that brow across, that's when the first kiss -- winner of the "first kiss lottery" will go across and kiss his spouse or girlfriend. I don't know who it is this time.
After that, some of the new fathers -- there are 160 new fathers on this cruise, and four of them will be getting off here first and going over to see their kids.
The brow coming across now, and that's a very exciting moment. Cheers going up in the crowd as the brow approaches the ship.
And I wanted to let you know that we were talking about the new fathers. One of them is a guy who is here with me right now, Ben Adams (ph).
Your wife, Jennifer, in Lynne Wood, Washington, hopefully she's watching. You've got a new baby who was born on March 6. Nate, you said.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
BUCKLEY: How difficult was that for you to not be there for Nate's birth?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was quite challenging considering we were going to be home in January. And then just to arrive now, it's a blessing just to be home to get through it all. And just to be seen through it all, I just want to thank the Lord for it.
BUCKLEY: And what is it that you want to say to your wife? What is it you want to do when you get home? UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I just want to say hi to my wife, Jennifer, and my son, Nate. And I'm looking forward to holding you for the first time, and I just can't wait to come home, and I'll be home soon.
BUCKLEY: All right, thanks very much, Ben.
I also have Mike Bowling (ph) here, who has got three children.
And this is your last cruise. It's hard to believe that you're almost of retirement age, but you are. You've got three kids -- 16, 12 and 10. Tell me what this day is like? You've been through it four times now. What is this day like for you guys?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's a day you'll never forget in your life. You know, it's coming home from a long cruise, you know, and it's just you're home. It's done. You know, you did your job, went over and did your job, came back, and you're done, and did it proudly, and I'm proud of it.
BUCKLEY: And you said, last night you actually got to shake the president's hand.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, sir, I did.
BUCKLEY: What was that like?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was a once-in-a-lifetime chance, and I'm glad I got to be here for it.
BUCKLEY: All right, well, Mike and Ben, we appreciate your time and your service. Thanks very much.
Wolf, just a couple of the sailors who are very eager to get off this ship and see their families.
Back to you.
BLITZER: Frank, before I let you go, because I know you have to get going very soon, it makes this stop in San Diego, the Abraham Lincoln, but then it moves up the California coast, up the West Coast, up toward Everett, Washington, its home port. How many of the sailors and Marines, approximately, are going to leave now? How many will leave once it gets up to Everett, Washington?
BUCKLEY: Well, roughly half of the 5,000 or so will get off here, and the other half will go up. So, about 2,500 to 3,000 of the ship's company will still be aboard. They'll get some liberty today during the day, come back aboard tonight. Tomorrow morning, we're all going to steam up the West Coast and get up to Everett, Washington, we hope, on Tuesday morning.
BLITZER: Tuesday morning, a lot of happy people in Washington State, in Everett, Washington, will be reunited; a lot of happy people standing by within minutes to be reunited with their sailors, their Marines. They're been gone for, what, 10 months. Ten months. They're getting obviously extremely excited right now. Frank Buckley is aboard the Abraham Lincoln. Frank, thanks very much.
CNN's Thelma Gutierrez is onshore in San Diego with a lot of those family members.
Tell us what's happening from your perspective over there -- Thelma.
THELMA GUTIERREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, Frank had mentioned about how eager and excited some of the men and women are on board to finally be able to be in the arms of their loved ones. Well, there's an old tradition in the Navy, and that is the first kiss. And this is a tradition that has generally been used to raise funds for various support groups for the Navy.
Well, I have with me two of the wives who are participating. Their husbands actually won a raffle, and so they will be the first to be able to kiss their husbands.
Talk to me a little bit about this. Lindsey Todd (ph), your husband, Jeremy (ph), is on ship.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, ma'am.
GUTIERREZ: And you're going to have that first kiss?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, I am.
GUTIERREZ: How excited are you?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There's not even enough words to describe it. It's just overwhelming. They're here, and it's amazing. It's totally amazing.
GUTIERREZ: Do you have any idea how much your husband had to pay to win this raffle?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't have a clue, but I don't care at this moment.
GUTIERREZ: Talk to me a little bit about what you're going to say to him when you first see him. How much has changed in your life in the past 10 months?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A lot. We have a 19-month-old baby girl, and she was 9-months when he left. And so, there's a lot to catch up on. But, you know, the first words are going to be, I love you and I'm glad you're home safe.
GUTIERREZ: That's great. Thank you so much.
There was another winner of that first kiss, and her name is Crystal Eton (ph).
Crystal (ph), your thoughts about this. You said that you were shaking a little bit earlier.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, it's really great that he's finally home and he's home safe. I have missed him a lot. We have no children, but just there's a lot of things that he's missed at home.
GUTIERREZ: What about finding out that your husband actually won the raffle? How exciting was that?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I was very excited. I couldn't believe it that he gets to get off the boat first, and I get to hold him and just -- I'm just so happy that he's home.
GUTIERREZ: How long has it been since you've seen him?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Ten months.
GUTIERREZ: All right, well, we'll be there for your first kiss.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: All right!
GUTIERREZ: Are you at all embarrassed that thousands of people will be watching?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No. At this point, I -- you know, at this point, they're anonymous. You know, you really don't -- all you're concentrating is on them getting off and having him in your arms. And to them, we don't even think that they're back there.
GUTIERREZ: Any special plans tonight?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No, not exactly. Whatever he wants to do, we're going to do it. So, we're also going to Disneyland on Saturday. So we just can't wait.
GUTIERREZ: All right, well, thank you so much to both of you.
And, Wolf, we had mentioned that there were thousands of people out here. In fact, the Navy was anticipating 3,000 to 5,000 people to come out.
Now, I just want to show you. You have a short pier, and then a fence right behind me. Behind that you have another 3,000 to 5,000 people, who are standing back there. It's rather hard to judge exactly how many people are back there, but it's quite deep. So many people excited, there are a lot of tears out here, people holding posters, very, very happy to finally be with their loved ones -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Yes, Thelma, do all of the sailors and the Marines, how many of those ramps do they have to start running off that aircraft carrier? We see one right behind you, but I assume there must be more than just one?
GUTIERREZ: Yes, we can -- from our vantage point right now, Wolf, we can see two of them, two ramps. But one of them, I believe, is going up for the first kiss. And the two women that we just interviewed are on their way right now, and they are going to an area where they will finally be able to see their husbands; those two women, Lindsey Todd (ph) and Crystal Eton (ph) -- Wolf.
BLITZER: And we will be able to see that. Is it expected momentarily? Are they getting ready for that right now? Or is this going to be another 10-15 minutes?
GUTIERREZ: Well, they told us that it would be momentarily, but they just have taken the women. They have ushered them to another area. Hold on. Let me ask.
BLITZER: All right, while Thelma's finding out, I want to keep these pictures up. These are the two women. They're going to be getting the first kisses from their husbands, who are going to be walking off, maybe running off, the Abraham Lincoln, and they've got flowers obviously. They won the lottery. They're going to be getting ready for the first kiss. Here we see -- here we see they're walking off right now.
GUTIERREZ: Wolf, it's happening right now.
BLITZER: Let's watch and let's listen.
All right, so just to set the scene, these are two women. They're wives of sailors, sailors who are going to be getting the first kisses, among some 5,000 sailors and Marines still on board the aircraft carrier, Abraham Lincoln. About 2,500 are going to leave permanently, at least for the time being. The Abraham Lincoln, the rest will continue on tomorrow towards Everett, Washington, the home port of this giant aircraft carrier.
They're the lucky ones. As soon as they get those first two kisses, the rest of the crew will start coming off those ramps and jumping into the arms, of course, of their family members, who have been waiting patiently, very patiently I must say, for some 10 months as the Abraham Lincoln has been in service, first involved in the Afghan war, more recently, of course, involved in the war in Iraq.
You see crewmembers aboard this giant aircraft carrier. Just to give you a sense, the deck of that aircraft carrier about four-and-a- half acres, four-and-a-half acres, housing about 5,000 crewmembers for a long period of time, obviously.
Normally, these aircraft carriers, they go for a tour of duty of some six months. In this particular case, they were winding up their tour of duty in the Indian Ocean and the Persian Gulf, getting ready to go back to Everett, Washington, when word of a buildup in the Persian Gulf came from the president of the United States, the commander-in-chief, and the defense secretary that they would be needed in the Persian Gulf. And the Abraham Lincoln, of course, steamed its way to the Persian Gulf and was deeply involved, its aircraft, its fighter aircraft, in the war in Iraq, dropping a lot of ordnance on Iraqi targets, especially during the first few weeks of the war.
Now, these sailors and Marines are about, about, to walk down the ramp and into the arms of their loved ones, at least many of them. These two women you're seeing right here, they're the lucky ones. They're going to be the first to throw their arms around their husbands and give them the big hugs and the big kisses. They won the lottery, and they will be reunited first. And then shortly thereafter, the rest of the crewmembers, they'll be reunited, of course, as well.
We're waiting for the ramps -- for the ramp to be unloaded and for the sailors to start coming down.
This is not an easy procedure, by the way, getting this huge aircraft carrier in position, so that sailors and Marines, the crewmembers, can start walking down these ramps. Obviously, it's a complicated ordeal, several stories high, about 20 stories, in fact, if you go from the bottom to the top of this aircraft carrier. It's a huge, huge complex. Some have described it almost as a small city.
We're going to watch these pictures unfold. We're going to stay with this, obviously, until we see these two lucky women reunited with their husbands.
While we're waiting for them, let me bring in Chris Burns, our White House correspondent. We're going to keep these pictures up. Chris Burns is standing by in northern California. He's with the president. The president, in about a half-an-hour or so, is scheduled to deliver a speech.
Chris -- the message from the president today is going to be what?
CHRIS BURNS, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, the president is wheels-down here in the San Francisco Bay area. He's going to come to this plant that builds the Bradley Fighting Vehicle. And perhaps even more popular in the last few weeks was the Tank Recovery Vehicle that I'm standing near right now that helped to pull down the statue of Saddam Hussein three weeks ago in Baghdad.
The president coming here, hoping to capitalize on his victory as a war-time president. You see in the polls, he's doing very well, but on the economy not so well. And he's trying to push through his tax plan, at least a $550 billion tax cut over the next 10 years. He's battling it out with the Congress. The Congress at last word wants to cut that dividend tax cut down to 15 percent, but not a 100-percent- cut, as the president is pushing through. The president saying that if he does get that tax bill through, it could create a million new jobs, raise the growth rate by 1 percent. This being extremely important, as we're looking down toward elections within next year.
And so, very, very important for the president. He's going to be talking about economic and national security, dovetailing the two as he faces Congress now, as he turns more toward economic issues -- Wolf.
BLITZER: And the president, from California, after he delivers this speech, I take it he's heading to his ranch in Texas. BURNS: That's right. In fact, he's meeting Prime Minister John Howard of Australia here, who has come from Australia. They will fly together -- the two couples will be flying together to Crawford, Texas -- or actually Mrs. Bush is going to be coming out to Crawford from Washington. In any case, they're going meet in Waco, and then go on to Crawford, Texas to the ranch. They'll be having a social dinner this evening.
The president wanting to express his thanks for Australia's contribution to the war effort. More than 1,000 troops were contributed to the war in Iraq. So, the president will be doing that. Then, of course, early on Monday going back to Washington.
The main thing right now, this speech that he is going to give shortly is trying to capitalize on that war effort. He's very much under fire by not only among the Democrats, but within his own party, as to whether this tax cut is logical and worth it. Some analysts say that it would not create the jobs that are needed. President Bush claiming that it will give that economic boost. According to a senior Democratic aide, saying the president looked a lot like top-gun in Iraq, but he's risky business on the economy -- Wolf.
BLITZER: All right. Stand by, Chris Burns. He's up in northern California.
We're also looking at southern California, in San Diego specifically. You're looking at the aircraft carrier, Abraham Lincoln. The crew, some 5,000 members, about to disembark after some 10 months at sea, first in Afghanistan, more recently near Iraq. Crewmembers about to be reunited with their families.
CNN's Thelma Gutierrez is onshore with some of those families.
Remind our viewers, who may just be tuning in right now, Thelma, about these two lucky women, who are going to be receiving the first kiss, the first kisses that is, from their husbands. It looks like they're walking off the plank. Right now, they're walking down towards shore.
Let's talk about this, Thelma, because I know you spoke with both women.
GUTIERREZ: Yes, that's absolutely correct. In fact, Wolf, you can see right now, the two men who are walking down, one is Jeremy Todd (ph), the other is Daniel Eton (ph). They won a raffle. They're walking up to their wives right now, and there they go. There they go. It's the first kiss.
The men won the raffle on the ship. They were the first allowed off the ship and into the arms of their wives. The wives saying this was a very, very exciting time. They couldn't wait. Moments ago, they told me that this was one of those moments that they had been longing for, for the past 10 months, and there it is.
BLITZER: And those women are about as excited as they could possibly be; their husbands, of course, equally as excited. You look at the smiles, you look at the tears. Those are tears of joy after 10 months at sea.
We're going to see that scene probably multiplied 2,500 times right now. About half of the crewmembers will permanently be off the aircraft carrier, reunited with their loved ones in San Diego. And then the rest of the crew tomorrow will be continuing on towards the home port of the Abraham Lincoln. That's up in Everett, Washington, in Washington State.
GUTIERREZ: Wolf?
BLITZER: Let's go back to Thelma.
GUTIERREZ: OK, Wolf. I have with me now Crystal Eton (ph) and her husband, Daniel Eaton (ph).
First of all, Daniel, let me just say welcome home.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you.
GUTIERREZ: What did you do to win that raffle? We were trying to figure it out, and your wife wanted to know how much you spent?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I can't even figure it out myself. I don't know. They just picked names. They drew names, I guess.
GUTIERREZ: How do you feel right now? And what was it like to walk off that ship after so many months?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Wonderful. Very wonderful. I'm so excited.
GUTIERREZ: You told me you were very, very excited. You were nervous. So was it worth it? I saw...
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.
GUTIERREZ: ... you didn't wait. You just ran right into his arms.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, I'm so happy he's home. He's finally here.
GUTIERREZ: What does this moment mean to you both?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A lot. It means a lot.
GUTIERREZ: Kind of shy?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, and I'm kind of in shock.
GUTIERREZ: Talk to me a little bit about what you plan to do this weekend? Any plans tonight?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, I don't have any plans tonight. We're going to go to Disneyland tomorrow.
GUTIERREZ: What is it like to have your wife in your arms again? UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It feels wonderful. I'm so happy. It's been so long.
GUTIERREZ: Well, thank you both very, very much. And congratulations on winning that raffle.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you.
GUTIERREZ: And, Wolf, as you had mentioned, there will many, many more reunions like that. That exact scene that you saw a few moments ago will be multiplied ten-fold, because if you take a look right to the side of me, beyond that gate, you can see that there are thousands of people on the other side of that gate waiting to run onto this pier for a chance to hold their loved ones as well.
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