HALIFAX – It was an emotional homecoming as HMCS Fredericton pulled into Halifax Harbour after seven months at sea.
Family and friends clutched signs, such as “Welcome home” and “Outta my way, I get my daddy back today” to greet the approximately 250 sailors.
Sara Bardauskas held up a giant sign reading “Welcome home Paul” to catch her husband’s attention.
“It’s been really hard, especially when your other half is all the way across the world and you don’t know what’s going on,” she said.
“I wanted to make sure when he comes in that he can see we’re waiting for him.”
Sherry Merriam held up a unique sign to greet her husband. It read “194 sleepless nights, 4656 hours of trying to stay busy, 279360 minutes of constantly checking my phone, 16761600 seconds of waiting for you to come home but it only takes 1 kiss to wipe it all away”.
“We want to have a welcome home sign and we decided to come up with a cool idea,” she said with a laugh.
“It’s been a long couple months. We’re happy it’s over,” said daughter Jordan.
Clapping filled the air as the ship pulled into the jetty and there were cheers as the first sailors disembarked.
Leading seaman Lawrence Clarke was the first man off the ship, and he embraced wife Angelina, gave her a kiss then a dip as the crowd cheered.
“That’s about the tamest thing I could do out of all the suggestions I got,” he said with a laugh.
“To be the first one off after six months, it was really great. I think the rest of the ship was a little bit jealous.”
Clarke said time apart from his family was tough.
“We’ve been married for 25 years this year so being away from her for six and a half months is the longest I’ve been away since we got married. It was really good to get back after that.”
There were cries of “daddy, daddy” as many children spotted their fathers on the ships.
Master seaman David Johnson said he is thankful to be reunited with his wife and two young children.
“It’s excellent, the best feeling in the world,” he said about hearing his children screaming “daddy”.
“I’m very happy. This is our third deployment,” said wife Pamela. “We’re very thankful to have daddy home with us. My heart is pounding.”
HMCS Fredericton deployed in December. The frigate took part in NATO exercises in the Black Sea and Mediterranean Sea. The prime minister was aboard the ship last month when Russian planes flew nearby.
Comments