Albright Prepares Sad Homecoming

Secretary of State Madeleine Albright left for Germany Wednesday morning for the sad duty of escorting home the bodies of 10 Americans killed in the terrorist bombing of the U.S. embassy in Nairobi. CBS News Correspondent Vicki Mabrey reports.

On Thursday morning, Albright will arrive at Andrews Air Force Base, Md., with 10 flag-draped caskets for a special ceremony, to be attended by President Clinton, in honor of the Americans killed in the attack. The body of one American killed in the bombing is going home Wednesday at the request of the victim's family.

(Check CBS.com on Thursday at 11 a.m. EDT for a live webcast of the memorial service led by President Clinton and Albright.)

Just before departing for Germany, Albright said, "I go secure in the knowledge that America will never be intimidated or back down in the face of terrorists."

President Clinton cut short a planned three-day cross-country trip to meet with his national security advisers Wednesday about the bombings.

Before she left Wednesday, Albright said those she will escort home Thursday represent "the very best of Americans. They were typical of the extraordinary people who protect our interests and promote our values in American diplomatic outposts around the world."

After Albright arrives in Germany Wednesday evening, she will visit the remaining wounded from the attacks - one American and 11 Kenyans - at the U.S. military hospital in nearby Landstuhl. A 12th Kenyan was being treated at the University Medical Center in Hamburg.

Senior Master Sgt. Sherry Lynn Olds will be flown into Andrews Air Force Base and then on to her hometown of Panama City, Fla.

Seven of the nine American bombing victims who have been treated at the hospital at Ramstein Air Force Base in Germany are homeward bound Wednesday.

They are leaving the base on a regularly-scheduled flight with other patients. They will be hospitalized in the United States. Most will go to the Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C., and one will be treated at a hospital in San Antonio, Texas. Another patient checked himself out of the hospital Tuesday and took a commercial flight to his hometown of Phoenix, Ariz., where he's being treated at a hospital.

Albright said Tuesday she plans to go to Kenya and Tanzania as soon as her presence will not hamper ongoing rescue and recovery efforts.