'I'm Not a Hero': Rescued Captain

By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Apr 17, 2009 4:31 PM CDT
'I'm Not a Hero': Rescued Captain
Livy Strong, chairperson of the Jericho Underhill Park District, sets up US flags at the Mills Riverside Park in Underhill, Vt., to welcome Capt. Richard Phillips back home today.   (AP Photo)

Shipping captain Richard Phillips is back in his home state, a week and a half after being taken hostage by pirates. The plane carrying Phillips, who was rescued by Navy SEAL snipers, landed in Burlington, Vt., late this afternoon. "I'm not a hero," Phillips, from nearby Underhill, said on the tarmac. "The military is."

"We did it," Phillips, 53, said of the crew of the Alabama Maersk. "We did what we were trained to do." His wife, children and others went on board the corporate jet to greet him. Phillips waved to a small, cheering crowd and hugged his daughter as he walked inside a building for a private reunion. He was to be feted at home with his favorite beer, a chicken pot pie made by a friend, and brownies made by his mother-in-law. (More Somalia stories.)

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