Sapulpa Family Hopes For Daughter's Safe Return From Japan

Dan Bewley, News On 6

TULSA, Oklahoma -- The tragedy in Japan continues to be felt in Green Country.

A Sapulpa family is keeping their fingers crossed that their daughter and grandchildren are able to get on a flight back home to Oklahoma.

From Tulsa to Japan, Debbie and Steve McMunn talked face to face with their daughter and her two young sons Monday.

"You make Mimi cry, I love you," Debbie McMunn told her grandsons.

Jase Caldwell, Five Years Old:"Do you miss me?"
Debbie McMunn, Sapulpa Resident: " I do miss you, makes me cry. I love you."
Jase Caldwell, Five Years Old:"Makes me cry too.

Lindsey Caldwell's husband is a Marine. They live on a base several hundred miles south of Tokyo. The Marine base and their home escaped damage from the earthquake and tsunami.

"It's tough, it's worse than the news honestly," she said.

But now there's worry about radiation as the country works to repair a nuclear power station.

"That's nerve wracking thinking about because there's a lot of people here to try to get out the families as fast as they can but they've reassured us we are far enough away, that they have enough time to do with us what they need to," she said.

Lindsey is hoping to return to Sapulpa soon with her children. She has to fly standby and have been turned away each time they've gone to the airstrip to catch a military flight back home.

The McMunn's say they understand the situation and trust the Marines to take care of their family.

"I know they're safe right now or the Marines would have a plane in there today," Debbie McMunn said.

Lindsey says the hardest part for her is seeing the pain of the tragedy on the faces of the Japanese people.

"The Japanese people are just some of the sweetest, most honest people you'll ever meet and seeing them hurt like this is just hard," she said. "They're an awesome host country."

Lindsey says the military has been good to work with since the earthquake. She says there are a number of support groups on the base, but she says the hardest part is explaining to her children why it's so difficult to come back to Oklahoma.