Tears, cheers, and handmade signs filled the docks at Naval Station Mayport early Sunday morning as the USS Thomas Hudner returned home from a nine-month deployment.
Roughly 300 local sailors were deployed December 1 on a high-stakes mission that spanned the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean. For the hundreds of families waiting at the port, the early morning wake-up call was a small price to pay to finally embrace their loved ones.
“Super excited. It’s been a long time,” said Dawn Hadden, standing among the eager crowd…