(Navy)
Chief Aviation Ordnanceman Robert Williamson, left, greets sister Cmdr. Cindy Murray for the first time in 30 years Sept. 27 at Naval Medical Center San Diego.
Before Chief Aviation Ordnanceman (AW/SW) Robert Williamson could embrace the sister he hadn’t seen in decades, he made sure to render a salute.
Navy nurse Cmdr. Cindy Murray and her brother had spent most of their lives trying to find each other. After their parents divorced in the 1970s, 14-year-old Murray and her mother moved away from their Denver area home, while her 6-year-old brother stayed behind with his father.
(Courtesy photo)
Murray and Williamson celebrate Easter in their childhood home.
Murray, 51, finally decided to call up her father in July. She hadn’t spoken to him in decades. He dropped a bombshell: Her long-lost brother was also in the Navy.
She asked a chief at her duty station, Naval Medical Center San Diego’s Military Health Center, to track down Williamson, 44. Not only was he in the Navy, her brother was stationed only 320 miles away, at Naval Air Station Lemoore, Calif. Within 20 minutes, they were on the phone.
“It was overwhelming! You have a million questions that you want to ask,” Williamson said in a Navy release. “I was so excited, I even forgot to ask what she does in the Navy.”
(Navy)
Williamson and Murray reunite Sept. 27 at Naval Medical Center San Diego’s Military Health Center.
Their separation ended Sept. 27 at NMCSD.
“Colorado is more known for the people joining the Air Force or National Guard there; we weren’t really around the Navy,” Williamson said. “But knowing we are both still making a career out of it … is kind of weird.”
Now that they’re catching up, they’re making plans for the future. Williamson is married with three grown children, whom the single Murray hopes to meet soon.
“We are hoping to get together with his family in Cabo San Lucas for Christmas since I have a timeshare,” Murray said.
Watch video of the reunion below.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GXRLT7E8mas]
2 Comments
This is a great story and both having the same calling to serve in the Navy.
Great story and I’m glad they found each other, where there’s a will. But how some parents can be so incredibly selfish amazes me.