BOGOTA, COLOMBIA - Marc Gonsalves, Thomas Howes and Keith Stansell were conducting drug surveillance for the Pentagon when their plane went down in rebel-held Colombian jungle in February 2003.

When the three disappeared, so, it seemed, did any efforts to rescue them -- at least publicly.

While France exhorted the world to care about the plight of French-Colombian hostage Ingrid Betancourt, and even sent a humanitarian mission in a failed rescue attempt this year, the U.S. government remained nearly silent about the employees of a Northrop Grumman Corp. subsidiary.

Relatives of the three men complained publicly about what seemed to be a failure to act. At one point, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez seemed like he was doing more than the U.S. government to free the longest-held U.S. hostages in the world.

Gonsalves' father, George, said the families had been frustrated over the years by a lack of information about what the U.S. and Colombian governments were doing to secure the men's release.

"We didn't know what the heck was going on," he told reporters. "I'm getting information from you guys."

Their fate seemed particularly grim after "proof-of-life" images released last November showed them looking haggard against a jungle background.

George Gonsalves was cutting his lawn in Hebron, Conn., Wednesday when a neighbor rushed over to tell him his son was freed. "I couldn't believe it," he said. "It's just a wonderful thing. I'm so excited."

Stansell's stepmother, Lynne, said she was "waiting to be briefed here by the Department of Defense, so they've asked us not to talk to anyone. But we have obviously wonderful news. We're still teary-eyed and do not quite have our wits about us."

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said in a statement, "We are delighted with the safe recovery of these Americans after more than five years of captivity."