35 Incredibly Powerful Hugs

Get the tissues ready...

1.

Jessica Rinaldi / Reuters

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

2.

KPPA / Reuters

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)

3.

HANDOUT / Reuters

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

4.

Ed Zurga / Reuters

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.

5.

U.S. Air Force / Reuters

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

6.

Nicky Loh / Reuters

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

7.

Mariana Bazo / Reuters

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)

8.

Rick Wilking / Reuters

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)

9.

Beawiharta / Reuters

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

10.

Shannon Stapleton / Reuters

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)

11.

Alexander Khudotioply / Reuters

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

12.

Reuters

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.

13.

Danny Moloshok / Reuters

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

14.

David J. Phillip / Reuters

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

15.

Lucy Nicholson / Reuters

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)

16.

Reuters

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

17.

Jaime Saldarriaga / Reuters

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

Jaime Saldarriaga / Reuters

18.

Reuters

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.

19.

Lee Jae-Won / Reuters

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)

20.

Mike Segar / Reuters

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

21.

Lucas Jackson / Reuters

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

22.

Victor Ruiz Caballero / Reuters

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)

23.

Khaled Abdullah Ali Al Mahdi / Reuters

Women mourn for relatives killed in Yemen. (2011)

24.

David Lienemann / Reuters

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

25.

Eduardo Munoz / Reuters

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

26.

Jason Lee / Reuters

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

27.

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

28.

Bazuki Muhammad / Reuters

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

29.

Shaun Best / Reuters

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

30.

Kim Kyung Hoon / Reuters

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)

31.

Lucy Nicholson / Reuters

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)

32.

Srdjan Zivulovic / Reuters

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

33.

Reuters

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

34.

Andrew Winning / Reuters

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)

35.

Ellen Ozier / Reuters

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)