what a blessing it is to be a citizen of this country. and thank you president obama for everything that you have done. today and leading up to today. before dawn u.s. officials and law makers boarded a government plane for havana to pick up gross. on the airplane back as we findly crossed into u.s. air space, you saw him give a big hurrah, put his arms up, he was clearly glad to be home. some fweeted photos of gross on the joyful reunion. from secretary of state john kerry, a hug on arrival. the humanitarian release was accompanied by a spy swap. on another plane, out of sight of cameras, a highly important u.s. intelligence source held by cuba for 20 years was flown to the u.s. his identity is secret for the information he provided to the u.s. on a shadowy network that spied on cuban-american exiles
after five decades of confrontation. seeing the american flag for the first time in five years, a frail gross was overcome. his toothless smile offered the untold story of the toll his captivity took on his body. what a blessing it is to be a citizen of this country and thank you, president obama, for everything that you have done today and leading up to today. reporter: before dawn a team of u.s. officials and lawmakers boarded a u.s. government plane for havana to pick up gross. on the airplane back as we finally crossed into u.s. airspace, you saw him give a big hurrah, put his arms up. he was clearly glad to be home. some tweeted photos of gross on his joyful reunion. from john kerry a hug on arrival. his humanitarian release was accompanied by a spy swap.
havana to pick up gross. on the airplane back as we finally crossed into u.s. airspace. you saw him give a big hoorah, put his arms up and he was clearly glad to be home. some tweeted photos of gross on a joyful reunion. from secretary of state john kerry, a hug on arrival. gross humanitarian release was accompanied by a spy swap. on another plane, out of sight from cameras, a highly important u.s. intelligence source held by cuba for 20 years was flown to the u.s. his identity is secret for the information he provided to the u.s. on a shadowy network that spied on cuban-american exiles and u.s. military bases. three of those spies held for more than a decade were released from the u.s. and sent back to cuba part of the so-called cuban five. the nation s top spy agency called the deal a fitting closure to the cold war tensions between the two countries.