PORT ANGELES — A U.S. Coast Guard helicopter crew that participated in a record-breaking drug patrol returned to Port Angeles on Wednesday afternoon after a 48-day deployment.
Family members and a “Welcome Home”‘ banner with the footprints and handprints of the crew’s children greeted the men as their HH-65A helicopter arrived at Group/Air Station Port Angeles on Ediz Hook.
The crew, including Senior Aviator Lt. William “Chip” Lewin, co-pilot Lt. Kevin “Big Country” Barres and three flight mechanics — Petty Officers Dan Sweetser, Scott White and Dan Booth — spent seven weeks patrolling the Pacific Ocean as far south as South America while deployed aboard the Seattle-based Coast Guard cutter Midgett.
The 378-foot cutter in a three-week period seized more than 14½ tons of cocaine in three separate busts off the Central American coast, setting a new single patrol record for a Coast Guard cutter.
Valued at $264 million
The cocaine has an estimated street value of more than $264 million in the United States, the Coast Guard reported.
During its patrol, the Midgett crew arrested more than two dozen suspected smugglers and destroyed several smuggling vessels, Coast Guard Cmdr. Tom Farris said.
The helicopter crew also participated in the interdiction of more than 175 illegal migrants and returned them to safe harbor, he added.
Group/Air Station Port Angeles is home to three orange HH-65A Dolphin helicopters, which are fast, highly versatile aircraft used in search and rescue, law enforcement and homeland security duties.
The majority of Dolphin helicopter deployments are aboard Coast Guard cutters equipped with flight decks.
