Their Long Wait Is Over

The call came just before midnight.

After speaking to her son, Staff Sgt. Andrew Ramirez, by cell phone, Vivian Ramirez burst out of her east Los Angeles home to share the good news with friends, neighbors - and reporters - gathered outside.

"Rev. Jesse Jackson freed him. He said he is free. He's coming home. And I am so happy. I had to come out and tell you."

CBS News Correspondent Sandra Hughes reports that Mrs. Ramirez is planning to depart within hours for Germany for a long-awaited reunion with her son.

The Ramirez family and the relatives of the other two U.S. servicemen held captive in Yugoslavia are heading to Germany Sunday to reunite with the three servicemen who were freed Sunday morning after 32 days in Yugoslav custody.

Ramirez, Spc. Steven Gonzales and Staff Sgt. Christopher Stone all called their families on a cellular phone after Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic allowed them to be released to Jackson in Belgrade.

"All three of them said almost to the letter in talks to their loved ones, 'I am free, I am free'," Jackson said. "'I love you very much. I hope to see you soon.' That was the message."

Stone family spokesman Maj. James McCrone, a public relations officer at Selfridge Air National Guard Base in Harrison Township, Mich., said relatives of Stone, of Smiths Creek, Mich., might board a plane to Europe on Sunday to be reunited with the serviceman.

"Of course, they're very excited and they're anxious to see Chris. They're very thankful for Rev. Jackson and the others who have been involved in Chris' release," he said. "Grateful and appreciative really captures the essence of what they are feeling."

Stone's mother already has pictures of a tearful reunion. "I don't think we'll have to say anything to each other," she said. "Just look into each other's eyes and hold each other."

Prior to their release, the families said they would keep their televisions on and phone lines open waiting for the good news.

"I'm waiting for the big call that they're on the bus and on their way out," Mrs. Ramirez's mother said at a news conference Saturday. She said she would "wait with the phone next to me ... until they call me."

Asked what she would do when she sees her son, Mrs. Ramirez said: "Cry. I will hug him, and then I will not let go." She called Jackson "a lifesaver."

In Huntsville, Texas, the parents of Gonzales were ecstatic after speaking with their son.

"To hear his voice just meant everything to us," said his mother, Rosie Gonzales. "All we could say was, 'We're going to see you soon. We're going to see you soon'."

The family already was planning to leave for Germany and she was looking forward to a reunion with her son.

The last time Gilbert and Rosie Gonzales saw their son, he was apologizing to them on videotape from Belgrade for causing tem pain and anguish.

"The first thing I want to do is just look in his eyes," his mother said."Look at those beautiful eyes and look at that beautiful smile and give him a great big hug. I don't think words are necessary at that point."

Gonzales, 22, Ramirez, 24, and Stone, 25, were taken captive March 31 while patrolling the Yugoslav-Macedonia border as part of a peacekeeping mission, seven days after NATO launched its bombing campaign in Yugoslavia.

Tricia Stone, Stone's wife, was "packed and ready to go" in the event of her husband's release, said her stepmother, Lisa McKinney.

"She is praying and she is very hopeful that it is true," she said. Mrs. Stone and the couple's 4-year-old son, Ryan, have been staying with Ms. McKinney in Texas.

Neighbors who went to the Ramirez home were filled with hope, many bearing flowers. "I feel wonderful now," said Lala Szalonek, 72, who brought a brimming vase. "I'm excited. I'm shaking inside."

In Capac, Mich., near Stone's hometown, Linda Eldred spent the day adorning her downtown floral-and-gift shop with new yellow bows and making many more to give away.

"I haven't known that kind of excitement since my brother and husband came home from Vietnam," she said.