The honorees were Captain Ronnie Maloney of Middle Island, Senior Master Sergeant Erik Blom of Hampton Bays, Technical Sergeant Anthony Yusup of Bloomsbury, Pennsylvania, Staff Sergeant James Dougherty of Rocky Point, Staff Sergeant Matthew Zimmer of Westhampton Beach and Staff Sergeant Christopher Petersen of Commack. On December 6, 2013, Governor Cuomo awarded the Bronze Star for Valor to six members of this outfit at a ceremony at Gabreski Air National Guard Base in Westhampton for their helicopter rescue, while under fire, of four wounded soldiers in Afghanistan in 2012. I place these duties before personal desires and comforts. The Pararescueman’s Code reads, in part “It is my duty to save lives and aid the injured. They’ve been awarded one Medal of Honor, 13 Air Force Crosses and over 105 Silver Stars. It should be noted that the PJ’s are the most highly decorated Air Force enlisted force. Pararescuemen, or PJs, as they are called, receive an extreme basic training at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas, then combat ocean diving and underwater rescue training in Panama City, Florida, parachute jumping in Fort Benning, Georgia, High Altitude Low Opening (HALO) parachute jumping in Yuma, Arizona, two and a half weeks of basic survival training at Fairchild, Washington and underwater aircraft egress training in Pensacola, Florida and one year at Kirtland Air Force Base, New Mexico.Īt the end of all of this, PJs are fearless in 60-foot seas or under enemy fire, and proud recipients of the maroon beret, which signifies the blood sacrificed and the devotion to duty of aiding others in distress. The helicopters, many people think, are up in the sky to bring officials out to the Hamptons, or rich people from New York out for the weekend. The planes do touch-and-go landings, circle around over the ocean, sometimes cross the paths of a helicopter going here or there. Occasionally, you will see the big, grey four-engine propeller Hercules aircraft lumbering around over the Hamptons and you will look up and figure they must have some sort of novice pilot training operation here. Most people on the East End are unaware that this military rescue group, consisting of probably the most highly trained personnel in our armed forces, have one of their three stateside Group Headquarters here in Westhampton. And the only casualty was Pararescueman Rick Smith, of Westhampton Beach, who died doing his job. The filmmaker had the whole script of both of them to work with. There were actually two separate rescue operations in the churning sea when the alarm went out at headquarters at Gabreski Airport. There were a few modifications and liberties taken by the filmmaker. And that is because the daring rescue described above was logged into a ledger at the end of the day at the 106th Rescue Wing headquarters in Westhampton Beach, from whence the helicopter and the Hercules had come. Photo: USAF / Senior Airman Christopher S Muncy How could they know accurately what had happened with the rescue helicopter, the pararescuemen and the civilians in the rescue going on nearby? An HH-60 Pavehawk over Westhampton Beach, After all, there really was no way of knowing what went on during the last hours of the fishing trawler out of Gloucester, which provides the main storyline of this film. I also thought that this was a work of fiction. Of course, there are other dramatic activities going on in this monster storm-indeed, the main plot of The Perfect Storm is of the men aboard the Andrea Gail fishing boat, out of Gloucester, Massachusetts, who are also never seen again.Īt the time I saw this rescue scene, however, I was so struck by the utter coolness of the pararescuemen. And though four of the five men onboard are rescued from these enormous seas by the Coast Guard cutter, the fifth man is lost, never to be seen again. They try again and again to link up, but in the end, the helicopter goes down into the ocean. But the wind is so high, the effort fails. An attempt is made to conduct a mid-air refueling with a propeller driven Hercules four-engine refueling plane that comes over. The chopper returns and with the same rescue method, cables up the pararescuemen.īut now the chopper is running low on fuel. Then, above the rolling, violent seas, the victims are choppered over a nearby Coast Guard ship and lowered down to safety. Over the foundering ship, Spillane and Smith fearlessly leap out of the chopper carrying 110- pound packs on their backs, splash into the water and proceed to put the three victims into baskets that have been lowered by cable. Colonel David Ruvola, the other co-Pilot, Jim Mioli, the flight engineer, and two pararescuemen, John Spillane and Rick Smith. Colonel Graham Buschor, it’s co-pilot, Lt. There are five men aboard this helicopter-Lt.
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