Eisenhower strike group returns to Norfolk

NORFOLK

Stephanie Steward waited on shore, twisting her red hair through her fingers, one hand clasped around her engagement ring. Most of the crowd had cleared, taking their American flags, welcome signs, and red, white and blue balloons with them.

When her fiancé, Joseph Ryder, finally strode down the pier, Steward broke into a sprint and leapt into his arms, her red-and-white striped dress floating above the pavement.

While he was gone, they wrote letters every day and mailed them once a week – they’re saving them to show their grandchildren one day.

“This is all I could hope for my entire life, since I joined,” Ryder said. “Someone like this waiting for me.”

Just about all of the 4,500 sailors aboard the aircraft carrier Dwight D. Eisenhower had someone lingering in anticipation Wednesday as the ship pulled in to Norfolk Naval Station after seven months at sea.

Nanson Petit-Homme, a supply corps officer, held his son for the first time. He said he was ecstatic to meet the baby, who is 3 months old and named for him.

“When I get home, I’m going to make sure he doesn’t need changing,” he said. “And then I’ll hold him some more.”

Lida Perkins waited for two sailors.

Her husband, Aaron, 36 , is a line division leading chief petty officer, meaning he supervises 24 junior sailors, for Strike Fighter Squadron 83. Her son, Mark, 21 , is an aviation support equipment technician.

This was Mark’s first deployment and probably Aaron’s last.

Mark enlisted in August – Lida said she was happy with his decision but cried for a week after he left for boot camp.

She used to joke that maybe he’d be assigned to his father’s ship, but she never thought it would actually happen.

Father, mother and son all agree that Mark has worked to make a name for himself in the Navy, instead of floating by just because he’s Chief Perkins’ son.

“I didn’t join the Navy for him,” Mark said. “I joined it for me.”

Lida said it’s been difficult for her family since Aaron left in January and Mark left in April. Her younger daughters have had to step into their brother’s shoes, and she worries about Mark and Aaron’s safety. Still, she said she’s proud of what her husband and son are doing for their country.

“I’ve held many titles in my life, from daughter to granddaughter to sister to niece to friend,” she said. “But I have to honestly say the ones that I am the most of proud of are being a mom, a Navy wife, and now a Navy mom.”

Shayna Meliker, (757) 446-2326, shayna.meliker@pilotonline.com