USS Fort McHenry home from Haiti

Norfolk, Va. (WAVY) - As the Fort McHenry worked her way pierside, loved ones clung to the chain link fence in anticipation. The sailors spent the last two months off the coast of Haiti.

Within days of the devastating earthquake January 12, the ship and the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit delivered 3,500 pounds of medical aide, 40,000 jars of peanut butter, 22 pallets of grain and 19 pallets of water.

The humanitarian mission was a homecoming for Boatswain Mate Dominique Pierre who left Haiti when he was 11 years old.

"I was completely shocked. I just stood there and looked around seeing the people coming towards us smiling, all nice to us and shaking our hands," he said.

Pierre served as a translator for the ship's senior officers and was called on to help bring a new life amid all the devastation.

"There was a woman I saw a newborn born. I was a big part of that moment, I was helping out."

As much as the Haitian people wanted the sailors to stay, their waiting families were ready to have them home.

This may not have been the longest deployment these sailors will serve in the Navy, but what they accomplished in that short period of time will last a lifetime says Seaman Gregory Rieland.

"No matter how much they lost the children they were still smiling, still laughing, they still had hope inside them," says Rieland.