Friends and family await their Sailors and Marines to disembark at the homecoming celebration of the amphibious assault ship USS Essex (LHD 2).

Sasebo, Japan (Apr. 06, 2005) Friends and family await their Sailors and Marines to disembark at the homecoming celebration of the amphibious assault ship USS Essex (LHD 2) on board U.S. Fleet Activities Sasebo, Japan. Essex returned from an eight-month deployment in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF), the Global War on Terrorism and Operation Unified Assistance, the disaster relief effort in Southeast Asia following the Dec. 26, 2004 tsunami. U.S. Navy photo by Photographer's Mate 1st Class Paul J. Phelps File# 050406-N-2716P-006