Joseph Huffman

Jessie Abrams

        They waited through the day Thursday to hear whether their sailor sons had been injured or killed.

        They comforted each other on the phone, one in Sayler Park, the other in White Oak.

USS COLE BOMBING

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        Thursday evening about 7 p.m., they got the joyful news: Joseph Huffman and Jessie Dale Abrams were safe. They had not been injured when an apparent suicide bombing ripped open the destroyer USS Cole while it was in port in Aden, Yemen, for refueling.

        Kathy Huffman of White Oak held two phones, one to each ear, late Thursday as the call came in from Naval Family Services in Tennessee.

        “Thank God,” she said as she stood close to her husband, David. “OK. OK.”

        That OK was what the Huffman family had been waiting for more than 12 hours. It meant their son, 20-year-old Joseph, a seaman who works in the ship's engine room, was not listed among the miss ing, injured or dead.

Kathy Huffman holds her husband, David, after hearing the news that their son Joseph was not among the injured in the blast aboard the USS Cole. (Brandi Stafford photos) | ZOOM |

        “I told you God was on our side,” Mr. Huffman told his wife. “Didn't I?”

        About the same time, Roberta Moore of Sayler Park learned that her oldest son, 37-year-old Jessie Dale Abrams, who runs the ship's galley, was not even on the ship.

        She said she last communicated with her son via the Internet shortly before he had surgery recently.

        His mother-in-law, Jeanann Heighthaus of Delhi Township, said she spoke with her son-in-law and daughter Thursday.

        “He's OK,” she said. “He had surgery over the past two months and was on temporary duty in Norfolk (Va.). He was originally supposed to return to the ship this week, but that was changed to next week.”

Roberta Moore waits to hear news about her son, who was not injured. | ZOOM |

        She said he has been helping relatives of those on the ship cope with the tragedy.

        Joe Huffman's work area, the engine room, is the place authorities say was hit.

        All day the Huffman family sat in vigil in their White Oak home, hoping, praying for their son's safety. They kept in close contact with Joseph's twin brother, Mike, who is also in the Navy. He is on the USS George Washington in the Middle East.

        After finally learning he was safe, the Huffman family decided to pop open a bottle of champagne and finish the long list of calls they had to make.

        Mrs. Moore's youngest son, Tom, 25, served as a military policeman in the U.S. Army and was injured in 1996 during a training exercise.

        “I think that any parent who has a son or daughter in the military dreads a soldier at their door because it can only mean something bad has happened,” Mrs. Moore said.

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