Family awaits Purdue graduate's
return from China
By Kurt Esposito
Assistant
Campus Editor
After everyone gets home from work at the Sonon
household, at least one person is by the phone at all times.
They are waiting by the phone in case someone calls
about their daughter, Marcia, who is one of the 24 American crewmembers
being detained in China.
Navy Lt. Marcia Sonon is a 1993 graduate of Purdue
with a degree in computer technology.
"She told me when she went into the Navy sometime
or another something would happen — now they told me she's in China,"
said Fern Sonon, Marcia's mother.
Fern said the family members understand that there
is nothing they can do to resolve the situation, but they have not let
it affect them. They still go to work every day but when they are home,
they constantly watch the news and keep someone stationed by the phone.
While at Purdue, Marcia was a leader in Purdue's
Navy ROTC program as well as a member of the Gold Key National Honor
Society; Women in Engineering; Alpha Lambda Kappa, a sorority for students
in computer technology; and Alpha Lambda Delta, a freshmen honor society.
She enlisted in the Navy after graduating and has
been stationed at a Navy base in Okinawa, Japan, since April 1999.
The intelligence-gathering aircraft Marcia was
on collided with a Chinese fighter plane in midair on April 1. The pilot
of the Chinese fighter plane ejected from his plane after the collision
and is still missing.
All 24 crewmembers from the American spy plane
have been detained since the collison by the Chinese on Hainan Island
on the South China Sea.
"I have the greatest confidence that she is conducting
herself in the utmost professionalism," said Vic Barlow, an assistant
professor of computer technology and Marcia's academic adviser for nearly
four years.
Barlow said Marcia was strong academically and
a capable and calm student who could always handle a given situation.
Fern said, "She's OK. If she wasn't, I would know
it. I know she's OK."
China has insisted that the United States apologize
for the incident, but so far the United States has not
"The Chinese object to us flying spy planes close
to Chinese territory. The U.S. refuses to apologize for the accidental
death of the Chinese pilot and refuses to change its policy of flying
spy planes in the neighborhood of other countries," said Harry Targ,
professor of political science.
He said the situation also stems from the U.S.
bombing of the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade and the U.S. possibly selling
weapons to Taiwan.
He said it will probably take a few days until
the situation is resolved and will probably require some form of a formal
statement from the United States.
Fern said she understands it will take a few days
until the situation does get resolved but she hopes both sides will
come to an agreement soon.
"We just have to wait," she said.
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