SIGN: REUNITED WELCOME ~ACK ' rd - • REEDOM 50 After fOUT hundred and [aurtyfour days of suspense . . . freedom. America waited tensely by televisions and radios following each leg of tbe journey from Iran, sure of the fifty-two hostages' safety only when they set foot on American soil. The nation was exultant. Bands played "Tie a Yellow Ribbon 'Round the Old Oak Tree" in their honor, New York threw a ticker tape parade, and Harding stuWorld News • dents ran down dormitory halls spreading the w-ord, "the hostages are coming home!" Individual welcomes awaited the ex-prisoners of Iran. William Royer, Jr., received a yellow Cadillac on his return to Houston. "Texas hospitality is legendary," Royer told the crowd gathered to honor and welcome him. "This outpouring of love is overwhelming. " While most of the nation was rejoicing, the hostages merely wanted life to get back to normal . "J know it's impossible," commented Sgt . fames Lopez, "but I'd like to get back to leading a normal life. Your arm gets tired of waving after a while." But the furor continued for yet a while . "A clinical psychologist would call it massive overcompensation," remarked Rich Ryan, himself a psychologist. Wall Street Journal called it a - Wide World Photos "Woodstock of patriotism." James Kilpatrick, however, summed, "Let us cool it. This has not been a glorious chapter in our history. No amount of champagne will make it so." ABOVE: ONE of the .52 American ex·hostages shouts as he gets off an Air Force DC-9 medical plane at the Frankfurt Air Force Base Jan. 21, shortly after he and the other hostages arrived from Algiers.
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