35 Incredibly Powerful Hugs

Get the tissues ready…

1.

Sergeant Shane Faulkner hugs his twin brother Shaw at a homecoming ceremony in Fort Hood, Texas. (2007)

Image by Jessica Rinaldi / Reuters

2.

South Korean Lee Jung-ho cries as he meets his North Korean older brother Lee Kwae-suk. The two brothers hadn’t seen each other since the Korean war. (2009)

Image by KPPA / Reuters

3.

Trapped Chilean miner Raul Bustos embraces his wife after reaching the surface after being underground for 68 days.

Image by HANDOUT / Reuters

4.

David Vanderhoofven is comforted by his neighbor Dan Regouby as they stand where Vanderhoofven’s home used to be in Joplin, Missouri. Vanderhoofven’s 13-month-old son and wife were killed in the tornado.

Image by Ed Zurga / Reuters

5.

A U.S. Air Force Pararescueman hugs a resident during search and rescue operations after Hurricane Ike in Galveston, Texas. (2008)

Image by U.S. Air Force / Reuters

6.

Medical workers walk past fallen buildings in the earthquake-hit township of Hanwang in China. (2008)

Image by Nicky Loh / Reuters

7.

A construction worker who survived the collapse of a wall embraces his sister in Peru. At least 8 construction workers were buried under the debris of a concrete wall that collapsed during the construction of a building in Lima. (2008)

Image by Mariana Bazo / Reuters

8.

Bill Janz reunites with his dog Abby after she was found safe after a fire. Janz was away when the fire started and Abby was left behind. When a fire truck approached their home during the fire, Abby jumped in and was saved. (2010)

Image by Rick Wilking / Reuters

9.

Earthquake survivor Ditia Ayu Lesteri hugs her cat in in Indonesia. (2007)

Image by Beawiharta / Reuters

10.

Friends and family members embrace on the beach after memorial services marking the 10th anniversary of Flight TWA 800. TWA Flight 800 exploded in 1996 over the Atlantic Ocean after taking off from New York en route for Paris. All 230 people on board died. (2006)

Image by Shannon Stapleton / Reuters

11.

Two miners embrace after being rescued from a collapsed mine in the eastern Ukrainian city of Snezhnoye. (2006)

Image by Alexander Khudotioply / Reuters

12.

Families and friends of victims embrace next to the flower-covered reflecting pool at the base of the World Trade Center site on the sixth anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attacks.

Source: Reuters

13.

Freed US journalist, Euna Lee, reunites with her husband and daughter after being detained in North Korea for two months.

Image by Danny Moloshok / Reuters

14.

A couple affected by Hurricane Katrina hugs on a rooftop in St. Bernard Parish near New Orleans, Louisiana. (2005)

Image by David J. Phillip / Reuters

15.

Cori Walters hugs her daughter Hannah at California Institute for Women state prison in Chino, California. An annual Mother’s Day event, Get On The Bus, brings children in California to visit their mothers in prison. (2012)

Image by Lucy Nicholson / Reuters

16.

Wang Bangyin holds his rescued son. Wang’s son was among 60 children seeking parents after police freed them from human traffickers.

Source: Reuters

17.

Former Colombian hostage, Sigifredo Lopez, prepares to hug his son on his arrival. He was held captive for 7 years. (2009)

Image by Jaime Saldarriaga / Reuters

Image by Jaime Saldarriaga / Reuters

18.

New Jersey resident Eugenia Kawczak embraces her long-lost sister Melania Babenko. The two were separated more than 65 years ago during World War II.

Source: Reuters

19.

Lee Chang-hee, mother of South Korean sergeant Yoon Jang-ho, is comforted by a relative at her home in Seoul. Sergeant Yoon was among those killed in a suicide bomb attack outside a U.S. military base in Afghanistan where U.S. vice President Dick Cheney was visiting. (2007)

Image by Lee Jae-Won / Reuters

20.

A man embraces a young boy on the fifth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. (2006)

Image by Mike Segar / Reuters

21.

Jonathan Mintz and John Feinblatt embrace their daughters after being married by New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg. (2011)

Image by Lucas Jackson / Reuters

22.

Demonstrators take cover from tear gas as they clash with riot police during a protest to demand for changes to the public state education system in Santiago, Chile. (2011)

Image by Victor Ruiz Caballero / Reuters

23.

Women mourn for relatives killed in Yemen. (2011)

Image by  Khaled Abdullah Ali Al Mahdi / Reuters

24.

Captain Mark Kelly hugs his wife U.S. Representative Gabrielle Giffords during his retirement ceremony. (2011)

Image by David Lienemann / Reuters

25.

Two Haitian police agents hug each other during their graduation ceremony, celebrating their introduction to the National police force. (2008)

Image by Eduardo Munoz / Reuters

26.

Christina Ripp and Loraine Gonzales of the U.S. Paralympic basketball team celebrate after winning their wheelchair basketball gold medal game against Germany. (2008)

Image by Jason Lee / Reuters

27.

Barack Obama supporters embrace after they found out he was elected in 2008.

28.

Aummarine Kamolkunpipat hugs his wife’s coffin. His wife was the victim of a Malaysian bus crash.

Image by Bazuki Muhammad / Reuters

29.

Kelly Johnston, the wife of slain Royal Canadian Mounted Police officer Leo Johnston, hugs officers during her husband’s funeral. (2011)

Image by Shaun Best / Reuters

30.

Satsuko Yatsuzaka holds a therapeutic robot named Paro at a retirement home in Japan. For some elderly survivors of Japan’s 2011 earthquake and tsunami, comfort comes in the form of a small white robotic seal. (2011)

Image by Kim Kyung Hoon / Reuters

31.

Holocaust survivor Betty Stein, 92, hugs coach Bella Livshin after playing ping pong at a program for people with Alzheimer’s and dementia. Founder Mikhail Zaretsksky says the sport does not cure, or even slow down the disease, but helps the 100 participants by raising their heart rate and the blood flow to their brains. He says it helps their depression, improves their balance, and makes them more alert. (2011)

Image by Lucy Nicholson / Reuters

32.

A Slovenian soldier says goodbye to his son. (2011)

Image by Srdjan Zivulovic / Reuters

33.

Zookeeper Stefanie Krueger gets a hug from a polar bear cub named Flocke. (2008)

Source: Reuters

34.

Two boys react as the coffin of Sergeant John Amer, the 99th British soldier killed in Afghanistan in 2009, was driven through the streets of Wootton. (2009)

Image by Andrew Winning / Reuters

35.

Mary Melfi hugs her dog “Glory” after being reunited with him for the first time since being deployed as part of the U.S. war with Iraq. (2006)

Image by Ellen Ozier / Reuters