"It just worked out beautifully. So we just thought there was divine intervention there," says Claude Johnson.

He attributes Shoshana's return to a strong sense of hope and a lot of faith and prayer. For him the joy of seeing TV and back in S.S. hands is beyond what he can describe.

"I don't know if there are any words in any dictionary any encyclopedia that can describe the feeling when you see her and you realize...oh yeah..it's real. She's alive...she's well," says Johnson.

Well enough to walk on to a military plane, despite several gun shot injuries to her ankles.

But up until Sunday's rescue, Johnson says there was a period of uncertainty for his family.

"Oh..the period..that period from the time we found out that she was a prisoner of war up until the time she came back to us...or back in the arms of the u.s. forces, it was extremely stressful," says Johnson.

He says because there was no news about her, so many concerns were going through his head.

"Where is she? What conditions is she living under? What are they doing to her? And that didn't lend for good sleeping at all. I would wake up in the middle of the night with all these thoughts going through my mind," says Johnson.

But those restless nights ended after 3 weeks when Johnson saw his daughter in the company of U.S. marines.

"Iwas able to get some good sleep, after Sunday. Finally I know that she's safe, she's okay and that she's coming home."

Although there's no official word on when she will come home, Johnson says it was wonderful to hear her voice on Sunday when they got the first phone call from her.

"It was great hearing from her. She got to speak to her daughter...and i think that was just fantastic..she started crying and then she ended up laughing, you know because she got to speak to everybody."

Now that she's safe, Johnson says he is just waiting for the day when Shoshana does make it back.

For her official Welcome Home Celebration there is a meeting planned this Thursday, April 17th at 5:30 p.m. inside the El Paso Times Community Room.