In an attempt to return to a normal life in his hometown of Macon, Miss., Thomas Hamill attended a morning worship service at Calvary Baptist Church in Macon with his family and supporters May 9.
Greg Duncan, pastor of Calvary Baptist, told the congregation of more than 100 that he thanked God for the family’s strength. And on Mother’s Day, Duncan called Kellie Hamill “a special mother” for her fortitude through her husband’s ordeal as an American hostage in Iraq, according to the Associated Press.
The Hamills arrived in Macon early on the morning of May 8 on a flight from Germany and were met by a small gathering of family and friends.
Later in the day, the Hamills had a cookout in their backyard to celebrate Thomas Hamill’s homecoming and his 44th birthday.
Also on his first day home, Hamill gave his first televised interview with Fox News, calling the resolution to his captivity a miracle.
“It’s just wonderful to be back standing on some ground that I’m used to being on,” he said. “It’s wonderful. Being with my family and friends and knowing how much they supported me through this whole thing. It’s truly wonderful and truly a miracle.”
Praying through the ordeal
Hamill described the April 9 ambush on his fuel convoy as horrific and said he passed the time in captivity by praying.
“I had no control over anything that was being done to me. I was not treated as badly as I thought I was going to be, but still, the mental stress from not knowing from one day to the next whether they were going to kill me …,” Hamill told Fox.
“And I was just praying daily, several times a day, just for the mental and physical strength to get through it. I was just looking at one day at a time, and I asked the Lord to find a time and a place and a day in the future. And that Sunday morning, He had that day picked out. And that was the day I bounded for freedom.”
Hamill said he continues to pray for the American soldier held captive in Iraq, Pfc. Keith Matthew Maupin, who disappeared during the same convoy attack as Hamill.
“I’m praying every day that he’s still alive, and I hope he can be as resilient and as faithful and he’s hanging in there just as I did,” he said.
Hamill voiced support for President Bush and his leadership in Operation Iraqi Freedom.
“That was the main reason I went over there. President Bush has made me proud to be an American,” he said. “We’re making a stand, and we’re doing the right thing.”
He also said he would be willing to return to Iraq to help “get that country back on its feet” if he could reach an agreement with his wife and children. (BP)
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