Groton — Kerry Loughran might not have made it to the Naval Submarine Base on Friday to greet her husband if it hadn't been for a thoughtful stranger.

Loughran got a flat tire on Interstate 395 as she drove from her home in Millbury, Mass., to the base for the homecoming of the USS San Juan, a fast-attack submarine.

"All of the sudden, the car goes from 30 (mph) to 20, to 15," she said.

She was dressed in blue heels and a flowered, summer dress — her homecoming outfit — when the car broke down. She made it off the highway, walked into a gas station store and bought Fix-A-Flat, she said. As she was trying to figure out how to use it, a veteran noticed her and offered to help.

He put air in the tire, told her of a shop nearby that could repair it quickly and showed her where it was. The shop rushed to get it done.

"They were all running around in the shop," she said. "They probably fixed it in under ten minutes."

She doesn't know who the veteran was. "I was definitely meant to be here; otherwise, all of these things wouldn't have happened," she said.

She and her husband, Lt. j.g. Rory Loughran, had the "first hug" among the crew of 143 sailors coming off the boat.

"It's awesome to be home," Rory Loughran said. The crew worked hard and the boat's six-month deployment was successful, he said. "I think everyone's very excited to be home, looking forward to having a break, and then getting right back at it," he said.

The USS San Juan, the 63rd Los Angeles-class submarine, returned from the European area and visited ports in Norway, Scotland and Spain. Fast-attack submarines like the San Juan handle missions including maritime security, surveillance and intelligence gathering, and also are designed to seek and destroy enemy submarines and surface ships.

Hundreds of family and friends, many dressed in red, white and blue, waved from the dock at the base as the boat came in. "There he is! Go get him! Go get him!" one woman told a child, who ran toward a sailor.

Brookelyn Rokosz of Groton waited with her two daughters, Caralyn, almost 2, and Aislyn, 8 months. The deployment was the first for her husband, Petty Officer 1st Class Stephen Rokosz.

"The morning (he left) was really tough, having to say bye and knowing that the kids were going to change so much while he was gone," she said. "It really didn't hit me until we were here dropping him off." She visited family in South Carolina and Delaware when he was gone, she said.

But even as a toddler, Caralyn understood the excitement of her dad returning. She wouldn't let go of him.

"They've grown up so much," he said, smiling warmly at the children before turning to his oldest daughter. "Yes, you do have a full head of hair now."

d.straszheim@theday.com