Seeing Americans like Marine veteran Paul Whelan coming home after being in a Russian prison takes Joey Reed back to 2022.
“Happy, primarily happy feelings, remembering what it was like for us,” the father of former Russian prisoner Joey Reed said. “And then, you know, seeing these families on TV, like when we saw them with the president earlier, just we were crying.”
His son Trevor Reed was wrongfully detained in Russia for three years.
The Reed family got guidance from the Whelans on navigating the process.
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“He was a former Marine and his family when we contacted them, they helped us guide us through this maze of government and media hurdles that you have to go through to get assistance for an American overseas,” Reed said.
Reed said the process isn't easy, but he hopes people understand these swaps are important.
“These countries, there's many countries that have Americans,” Reed said. “They don't want anything for them. They just gloat on the fact that they've got American, innocent Americans, locked up in their prisons.”
Now for the family of Whelan and the others released it's the anxious waiting game of being reunited face to face.
“You're worried about your loved one,” Reed said. “You want to see them as soon as possible, but there's generally a lot of red tape going on and, you know, making sure that they're healthy and can see other people.”
