Military Families Celebrate War’s End : Persian Gulf: The President’s announcement of victory over Iraq brings relief and joy to the home front.

President Bush’s declaration of victory in the Mideast on Wednesday spread relief, jubilation and a sense of triumph through the ranks of the military in Ventura County, their families and others swept up in the war’s drama.

“It is a miracle,” said Kim Stromer, wife of Seabee James Stromer, who is stationed in Saudi Arabia. As she had many nights before, Stromer watched events of the war unfold on television from her husband’s recliner with her children Crystal, 8, and John, 4, tucked by her side. Ten-month old Troy was asleep upstairs.

“My daddy is almost here,” offered Crystal, a second-grader who takes part in a weekly support group at school. Crystal said she was glad the war was ending, because she misses her father and fears “that he will get killed. The thing I miss most is jumping on his back when he’s lying on the floor.”

The fast-moving developments in the Middle East surprised even those glued to their television sets in recent weeks.

“I didn’t think this day would come quite this fast,” said Cathy Kalvelage, 44, who watched the President’s speech with her four children from their Thousand Oaks home. Her husband, John, a medical technician with the California Air National Guard, is somewhere near the battlefront helping stabilize and airlift the wounded to military hospitals.

“My daughter said, ‘Will Daddy be home by Easter?’ ” Kalvelage said, tears in her eyes. She spoke cautiously about her husband’s return. “When they finally call and tell me he is on a plane, then I’ll really believe it.”

Bush’s sudden appearance on television Wednesday evening seemed to mesmerize everyone within earshot, bringing a halt in activity. The busy bartender at Du-par’s Restaurant in Thousand Oaks stopped mixing drinks. A cocktail waitress sat down.

“Bring our boys home!” shouted Neil Smith, 49, of Thousand Oaks, piercing the silence during the President’s remarks. Fiercely supportive of the U.S. effort in the Gulf, he suggested that U.S. troops deliver Iraqi President Saddam Hussein to the Kuwaitis. “Let the Kuwaitis deal with him.”

In Oxnard’s working-class Latino neighborhood of La Colonia, the President’s address briefly captured the attention of a small group of rambunctious teen-agers in Azteca Videos.

“Hallelujah,” said Tom Gomez, 16, when Bush announced that the Iraqis had been defeated. “It is good for all of the moms that the war is over.” His brother, Phillip, is in the Navy but stationed in Port Hueneme.

“The war is over!” cheered Morgan Vasquez, 15, of Oxnard. He also has a brother in the Navy, stationed in Port Hueneme.

Chen Trejo, 51, joined the teen-agers’ celebration. “The entire American family is going to be very happy,” he said in Spanish. “I think we did the right thing in stopping Hussein before he turned the war into a world conflict.”

Since the beginning of the U.S. buildup in the region, the Naval Construction Battalion Center at Port Hueneme has dispatched 1,800 Seabees to Saudi Arabia to build tents and other facilities for U.S. Marines stationed there.

One battalion of 600 Seabees returned to Port Hueneme from Saudi Arabia in December. But that battalion and a separate battalion of 600 men have been scheduled to ship out to Saudi Arabia in the coming months.

Two of those Seabees were shopping for televisions at an appliance store in Ventura when Bush’s face filled a room lined with TV screens. “We did everything correctly for once, militarily and morally,” said Blair T. Jackson, 26, who served three months in the Persian Gulf before returning to Port Hueneme at Christmastime.

As Jackson spoke, his friend, Michael Luczynski, 19, came up. “It’s over? It’s over?” he said. Then he started jumping up and down. “We’re not going back to Saudi! We’re not going back to Saudi! We’re not going back to Saudi!”

Jundee Swanson of Camarillo, the wife of Seabee Everett L. Swanson, said she hoped her husband would return from Saudi Arabia before his birthday March 13. “I’m glad Bush kicked Saddam out of there. I’ll be really glad to get my man home.”

She said she has not worried about her husband of 16 years because “I just knew in my heart that he wouldn’t be hurt. I knew this would not be like another Vietnam.”

The Swansons’ 14-year-old daughter, also named Jundee, said she couldn’t wait for her dad to come home. “We have a support group every Monday at school, and I always get all choked up when I try to talk about him. I’m just really happy the war’s over now.”

Jeanie Pelkey, a Navy spokeswoman at Port Hueneme, said the Navy’s policy does not permit officials to talk publicly about scheduled troop movements. But she said everyone on the base shares the relief of family members. “We can’t wait to see the familiar faces in our battalions come home,” she said. “The news is terribly exciting for all of us.”

The speedy resolution of the war won President Bush high marks from Simi Valley residents congregated around a television set at a bowling alley.

“He did an excellent job,” said Judy File, who was with friends at the bowling alley. “He stuck to his guns and stayed very cool. I think this just upped our credibility with the whole world. We need that.”

Denis Murray, another bowler, said he was impressed with Bush. “I was afraid it would be another Vietnam, because too many politicians were running it, but Bush did it right,” he said.

Murray said U.S. troops should keep going until Hussein is ousted. “We need to go all the way through with it and get Saddam out completely. My biggest fear is that he will stay in power, and it will start all over again.”

Not everyone rushed to celebrate the war’s apparent end.

“It’s a sad thing,” said Lilly Barthelemy, an Ojai toy store owner who helped organize a seven-week series of candlelight vigils in that city’s Libbey Park. “I don’t think you can celebrate that thousands of people have been killed in Iraq. I feel sorry for everyone who was encouraged to fight.”

Earlier in the day, a dozen war protesters with the Nonviolent Action Group of Ventura County staged a sit-in at the Ventura office of Rep. Robert J. Lagomarsino (R-Ventura). They vowed to stay until Lagomarsino answered their questions. After the congressman spoke to the protesters by telephone from Washington, D.C., they left.

Even with the news of the Iraqi defeat in Kuwait, the protesters said their demonstration was not too late. “We should have been here the whole entire month,” said demonstrator Lucille Duffy. “But we’re here today.”

Times staff writers Daryl Kelley, Santiago O’Donnell, Psyche Pascual, Carlos V. Lozano, Christopher Reynolds and James E. Fowler and correspondents Kirsten Lee Swartz and Thia Bell contributed to this report.