Americans' families get surprise of their lives

WASHINGTON - For the families of three U.S. defense contractors held hostage for five years by Colombian guerrillas, the rescue of their loved ones came as an unexpected and welcome surprise.

Northrop Grumman, the employer of the three hostages, had kept the families updated, but there was little official news from the Colombian or U.S. governments. Then the big news came Wednesday through unofficial channels.

George Gonsalves, father of hostage Marc Gonsalves, was mowing his lawn in Hebron, Conn., when a neighbor who had heard a TV news report rushed over to alert him.

"Quite honestly I haven't heard more than what I've seen" on television, he told a reporter, adding that his son had three teenage children who would be overjoyed with the news.

Amanda Howes was at work at Boston TV station WHGH when she saw a news flash that her uncle Thomas Howes, a native of Chatham, Mass., had been rescued. She quickly called her father, Stephen Howes, and unsuccessfully tried to reach her uncle's wife, Mariana, by cell phone. The hostage's wife was in Peru visiting family.

"It's a miracle today," said Amanda Howes.

Some bad news also was in store. Thomas Howes' father, Edward Grafton, died on March 26, 2007, while the U.S. contractor was being held in the jungle. "We were trying to get the message to him, and there was really no way to get the message to him" during his captivity, Amanda Howes said.

The son of Keith Stansell, the third freed hostage, was hanging out on a Sarasota, Fla., beach with friends when the news arrived. He got off the phone with his stepfather and rushed home.

"I don't even know what to think right now," said Kyle Stansell, 16, a 6-foot-5 high school student. "I just want to see him and hug him and hug him and hug him."

"I'm the happiest kid in the world right now, 100 percent," he said.

The freed hostages landed at an Air Force base in Texas late Wednesday, and family reunions were in the offing.

"I'm not even worried about what we're going to do," Kyle said. "I just need to see his face."

Keith Stansell was two months from being remarried when he was taken prisoner, and his fiancée has since married, according to reports earlier this year in the Bradenton Herald and Miami Herald.

The three hostages worked for a subsidiary of defense giant Northrop Grumman. Spokesman Randy Belote said the company "is very happy that we've received confirmation of long-awaited news. We're very happy to hear they are safely freed."