Andrew Brunson’s first stop en route to the U.S. after being freed from house arrest in Turkey was at Ramstein Air Base in Germany. There, Brunson, a pastor from North Carolina, was greeted by U.S. Ambassador Richard Grenell and a folded American flag.
Fresh off of the airplane and with his wife by his side, Brunson grabbed the flag and kissed it, as shown in an iconic photo that Grenell shared on Twitter.
I welcomed Pastor Brunson & his wife to Germany on their refueling stop. He’s almost home thanks to @realDonaldTrump.
When I presented him with the US flag, he immediately kissed it. #agratefulnation pic.twitter.com/b82gA7PXVr— Richard Grenell (@RichardGrenell) October 13, 2018
Brunson had been in jail or on house arrest in Turkey for more than two years before his release. He was arrested in October 2016 and accused of aiding terrorists through a small Christian church that he and his wife, Norine Brunson, operated in the coastal city of Izmir. – READ MORE