With flight bags looped over their shoulders, packages from duty-free shops clutched under their arms and broad smiles across their faces, they could have been a group of tourists happily returning from a slightly wearying holiday. But the 30 men descending the red-carpeted steps of the TWA jet at Andrews Air Force Base last Tuesday were among the 39 hostages whose personal ordeal at the hands of radical Lebanese Shi'ites had been an agonizing 17-day national nightmare. Now they were home. As they walked into the bright sunlight, they seemed to give fresh affirmation to the familiar Fourth of July lyrics...
Sweet Land of Liberty
The hostages' homecoming adds luster and a sobering note to the Fourth
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