[04/10/03]Wednesday’s events in Baghdad have done wonders to relieve some of the worries of at least one Vicksburg resident whose Marine son is deployed in the Middle East.

Jay Horn, 22, is the son of Gina Pettis of Vicksburg and is in a communications maintenance unit attached to the Marine’s 2nd Air Wing. He deployed to the Middle East Feb. 16 from his home base at Cherry Point, N.C.

“I was very worried,” she said Wednesday, shortly after news coverage from Iraq showed a towering statue of Saddam Hussein being pulled down. But like others, she believes the actions in the Iraqi capital may signal at least the beginning of the end of hostilities.

Pettis said she had two e-mails, but had not heard anything from her son in about two weeks before Wednesday when a vase of flowers arrived in her River Region Medical Center room. Pettis was in the hospital for tests, and the flowers were from her son.

She worried, she said, even though her son has kept saying he was well and for her to stop worrying.

“I’m glad it’s almost over because they will all get to come home,” Pettis said with tears coming to her eyes. “When he comes home, I won’t be worried anymore. That’s a dangerous place to be.”

This is not Horn’s first overseas deployment. He served in support operations near Afghanistan. But, that was not as bad, Pettis said, because he could call on the telephone.

Horn attended South Park Elementary School before going to high school in Denham Springs, La., where his father lives. He entered the Marine Corps right out of high school and has four and a half years of service. His promotion to sergeant came just before the deployment to Iraq.