3 rescued U.S. hostages arrive safely in Texas

updated 5:54 p.m. ET July 3, 2008

FORT SAM HOUSTON, Texas -

Three U.S. hostages rescued from leftist guerrillas in Colombia were in good condition, military officials said Thursday.

The military updated reporters Thursday on the condition of contractors Marc Gonsalves, Thomas Howes and Keith Stansell. They had been held by rebels since their drug-surveillance plane went down in 2003.

Army Maj. Gen. Keith Huber said the contractors greeted him with "clear eyes and an incredible smile."

The employees of a Northrop Grumman Corp. subsidiary arrived in the U.S. late Wednesday. They were taken to an Army hospital in San Antonio for tests.

Northrop Grumman spokeswoman Katie Lamb said their families were planning to arrive in San Antonio.

The three were rescued when Colombian spies tricked leftist rebels into handing them over along with kidnapped presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt. She was also freed Wednesday, as were 11 Colombian police and soldiers.

Howes is a native of Chatham, Mass.; Gonsalves' father lives in Hebron, Conn.; and Stansell's family lives in Miami.

Relief among relatives
Earlier Thursday, Mike Gonsalves said that the news of his brother's rescue was starting to feel more real. "It'll feel me real when I'm able to see my brother," Gonsalves, of Manchester, Conn., told CBS' "Early Show" in a phone interview before going to Texas.

"He looks good," the brother added. "They all look, you know, good for being what they went through — I think they look pretty good."

He said the five years of waiting for news on his brother was hard.

"You just wait and you wait for news," he said. "You wait for a day like yesterday and today, you know, for the end, you. You want it to end."

He said he hasn't been able to talk to his brother. "Today will be the first day," Gonsalves said.

Gonsalves' father, George Gonsalves, was mowing his yard when an excited neighbor relayed the news he had seen on television Wednesday.

"I didn't know how to stop my lawnmower," he said. "I was shocked. I couldn't believe it."

Howes' niece, Amanda Howes, said the rescue "redefines the word miracle."

Stansell's ex-wife, Kelly Coady of Sarasota, Fla., said his two children spent Wednesday packing for a trip to Texas to see their father and waited for hours for a call before Stansell finally called at 3:30 a.m. Thursday.

"He was in a very great state of mind," she said. "He's in a great mood, ready to see his kids."

His daughter, 19-year-old Lauren, and his 16-year-old son Kyle left for Texas on Thursday morning along with Stansell's father and stepmother, Coady said.

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