About 7,000 people waved flags and roared each time a crew member stepped out of the City of Seattle C-9 plane. The 21 men and three women made their way into a hangar as a military band played and onlookers stood clapping. Your actions made us all proud to be Americans. Holmes credited Lt. Shane Osborn with saving the lives of the crew, saying his decision to land the plane was the only means to ensure all 24 crew members made it home alive. Osborn was given a standing ovation.
Chinese officials continue to insist that the American aircraft was responsible for the accident.
National and local dignitaries took turns welcoming and praising the crew, including Rear Adm. Vinson Smith, commander of Navy Region Northwest, Washington Gov. Gary Locke and Oak Harbor Mayor Patty Cohen. Washington's two senators and several members of Congress were also on hand but no senior Bush administration officials attended the welcoming ceremony. Ferries had to be added to accommodate the throngs of visitors and journalists who descended on nearby Oak Harbor, a town of 20,000 at the northern tip of scenic Whidbey Island, an landscape of tall pines, bald eagles and sweeping views of the Pacific. Most of the crew members make their home at the Whidbey Island Naval Air Station, the West Coast training and operations center for a variety of air squadrons including the Prowler EA-6B, an electronic jamming aircraft. Before leaving Hawaii for the flight to Whidbey Island station, Osborne told reporters about the plane's harrowing plunge following the collision with a Chinese air force F-8 fighter off the coast of southeastern China.