Niles couple gets word that son is coming home

Shawn Coursen joined the Navy 11 years ago and works as a code decipherer.
By DENISE DICK
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
NILES -- James and Susan Coursen received a call from the United States Navy this morning telling them that their son Shawn is coming home.
Shawn is one of 24 U.S. military personnel detained by the Chinese government since a U.S. surveillance plane made an emergency landing on the Chinese island of Hainan 10 days ago. The White House confirmed this morning that the crew would be released.
Shawn, 28, is a cryptologic technician operator, or code decipherer, with the U.S. Navy. He joined the Navy 11 years ago. The U.S. pilot made an emergency landing after a midair collision with a Chinese fighter jet.
'Overwhelmed': "I'm very overwhelmed -- extremely overwhelmed," Coursen said this morning. "I'm very happy for all of the families."
The Warren Avenue couple first got the news about 6 a.m. today from a local television station. Official word came from the U.S. Navy about 8:15 a.m.
"He said that the plane would leave [for China] at 7 a.m. Hawaiian time from Guam," Mrs. Coursen said of the call from the Navy. "Nothing else has been scheduled."
Still uneasy: The couple, surrounded by lights, cameras, microphones and reporters from area media at their home this morning, said they are relieved their son will soon be free. But Coursen said he won't be completely assured of Shawn's safety until he sees his picture on television. A group photograph of the captives released last week by the U.S. military to the families of the 24 service men and women didn't show Shawn.
The telephone at the Coursen home was ringing almost constantly this morning, mostly from area media wanting reaction from the pair.
Shawn never lived in Niles, but his parents, Trumbull County natives, returned to the area nine years ago from Valdosta, Ga., where Shawn grew up and graduated high school.
The Navy has kept the couple updated throughout the crisis and a telephone network in Japan of families of the 24 Americans also informed the Coursens of events.
"It's been very, very hard," Mrs. Coursen said.
The elder Coursen, who coaches youth soccer here in Niles, said his grandchildren and their activities helped him and his wife through the difficulty.
"They've really kept us going," he said.
The couple has eight grandchildren including Shawn's daughter, Jessika, 5, who lives in Japan along with Shawn's wife, Misayo.
The Coursens last saw Shawn around the beginning of this year. They talked to their daughter-in-law Tuesday evening.
"She's doing better now," Coursen said.
Despite his relief, Coursen said he wishes the U.S. government would have acted to get the crew home sooner.
Shortly after they got word from the Navy April 2 that Shawn was being detained in China, Mrs. Coursen hung an American flag on the family's front porch. The flag had been placed on her father's casket when he died, a few weeks before Mrs. Coursen was born.
"It's going to stay out there a little longer," she said of the flag. "I want to keep it there a little bit longer."