BLYN — Eleven people run to help when a Coast Guard helicopter crashes at the mouth of the Quillayute River and pull two crew members from the water. One lives.
A 9-year-old boy saves the life of a choking 2-year-old.
A Coast Guard rescuer jumps onto rocky terrain at 4,200 feet and crawls over the rough slope to treat a hiker felled by a rock.
A Clallam County Sheriff’s deputy pulls a nearly dead horse from thick marsh mud and winches it to safety.
These are some of the inspiring tales of heroism and quick action that were presented at the 2010 Red Cross Real Heroes dinner last week.
The Olympic Peninsula Chapter of the American Red Cross applauded 17 people for their quick-thinking response to help others in trouble.
The chapter presented seven awards, consisting of plaques and medallions, at a banquet at 7 Cedars Casino in Blyn on Thursday night.
The Lifesaving Rescue and Recovery Hero Award was presented to 11 members of the Quileute tribe whose quick action saved the life of a Coast Guard helicopter crew member.
Quileute earn honor
The fishermen ran to help when a Coast Guard MH-60T Jayhawk helicopter — which was flying between Astoria, Ore., and Sitka, Alaska, on a sunny, windless morning July 7 — snagged power lines spanning the mouth of the Quillayute River near James Island at LaPush and crashed into the water.
The five Quileute fishermen — Levi Black, Jim Williams, Mark Williams, Charles Sampson and Darryl Penn — jumped into two skiffs when they saw the 9:35 a.m. crash, headed for the helicopter and pulled two men who showed few to no vital signs from the water.
Those tribal members were honored for their rescue effort at sea while Tony Foster, Lonnie Foster, Zach Jones, Sonnie Woodruff, Morris Jacobson and Skylar Foster were recognized for their work performing cardiopulmonary resuscitation and other measures on land.
Lt. Lance D. Leone, 29, of Ventura, Calif., one of the two men rescued by the fishermen, survived the crash.
His crew mates — pilot Lt. Sean D. Krueger, 33, of Seymour, Conn.; Aircraft Maintenance Technician 1st Class Adam C. Hoke, 40, of Great Falls, Mont.; and Aircraft Maintenance Technician 2nd Class Brett M. Banks, 33, of Rock Spring, N.Y. — died in the crash.
Coast Guard Rear Adm. G.T. Blore thanked the tribal members who moved so quickly to the aid of the helicopter crew.
“Your devotion in responding, which resulted in the rescue of Lt. Lance Leone, demonstrated your unwavering dedication to U.S. Coast Guardians and earned respect from all who serve,” Blore said.
“Because of your efforts, he is still with us today.”
The Quileute tribe presented a drumming session during the banquet, said Michelle Kelley, executive director of the chapter, which is based in Carlsborg but which covers both Clallam and Jefferson counties.
Each of the other awards had one recipient.
They are listed here, along with their inspiring stories.
Lifesaving Hero Award
• Soon after 9-year-old Arnulfo Lopez volunteered to be a mock choking victim for a first-aid class, he encountered the real thing — and saved a life.
The boy watched July 26 as Dr. Lili Dodd taught a class on CPR and first aid at First Step Latino Group Drop In Center in Sequim. He offered to stand-in as an ersatz choking victim in one of the demonstrations.
After the class, a child on the playground, a 2-year-old named Sebastian, choked on a hard candy.
Arnulfo used the technique he had just learned and popped the candy from the child’s throat.
• Pat McNerthney, a volunteer firefighter for East Jefferson Fire-Rescue who lives part time on Marrowstone Island, saved a life in his leisure time.
One day in August, McNerthney was working out at a health club in Seattle, where he lives part time, when another patron fainted.
McNerthney, who is an emergency medical technician, found no pulse, started cardiopulmonary resuscitation and directed others to bring a defibrillator, continuing CPR until more help arrived.
The person he helped survived a cardiac arrest.
• After he saw the fire in his neighbors’ shed, which was endangering their house, Ben Skerbeck tried to kick down a steel door — which probably awakened those sleeping inside — then waited anxiously while his neighbor sought her key, and finally carried her from the burning house 200 feet away.
The fire had started a little after midnight on Jan. 11 in a shed beside the rural Dungeness home of John and Rose Katte.
By the time Clallam County Fire District No. 3 firefighters arrived, the house was full of smoke and about a fourth of it was in flames.
“As a result of Ben’s quick and heroic efforts, there were no injuries,” Kelley said.
Animal Rescue Hero Award
Tracey Kellas, Clallam County’s lone animal control deputy for 1,752 square miles, rescued a horse stuck in thick marsh mud in a heavily timbered wetland near Clallam Bay on March 27, 2009.
Investigating a report of horses that were neglected, she found the nearly submerged horse, which was hypothermic and near death.
She organized the horse’s rescue, and comforted it for two hours while Clallam County Fire District 5 personnel and county deputies, with the help of a tow truck operator, winched the animal to safety.
Kellas was named Clallam County Sheriff’s Office Employee of the Year for 2009 for her dedication during her 12 years in her role.
She “is credited with doing the work of three animal control officers, which includes leash law enforcement, barking and dangerous dogs, as well as removal of dead animals,” Kelley said.
Community Preparedness Hero Award
Clallam County Fire District No. 5 serves Clallam Bay and Sekiu, an isolated area subject to weather extremes, Kelley said.
Chief Patricia “Trish” Hutson-English “can take credit for many of the community emergency preparedness activities that help people to deal with house fires, accidents, heart attacks and all the way up to major events like wildfires, windstorms, floods or earthquakes,” Kelley said.
In 2009, Hutson-English helped establish a Red Cross disaster team, and the area received a disaster emergency trailer, funded by Walmart, which contains materials to shelter 25 people.
“She has been very successful at getting grants to update much of the department’s equipment for workers to do their job safely,” Kelley said.
“Their equipment is the envy of many large fire departments.”
Hutson-English oversees 20 firefighters/emergency medical technicians who cover more than 750 square miles.
Coast Guard Rescue Hero Award
Aviation Survival Technician 1st Class Neal Cahoon jumped from a hovering helicopter to a steep slope 4,200 feet high on Mount Washington to help a hiker who had tumbled 30 feet from the trail after a falling rock smashed into her head on July 25.
Cahoon, a member of an MH-65 Dolphin helicopter crew from the Port Angeles Coast Guard station, had to haul himself up, crawling at times, to the stricken hiker, who was on an unstable spot of the mountain in the Mount Skokomish Wilderness of Olympic National Forest, just north of Lake Cushman.
After stabilizing the 48-year-old hiker for transport, he retrieved the rescue litter by crawling down to the lower end of the slope.
The hiker was taken to Harborview Medical Center to be treated for head, facial and body lacerations and a broken thumb.
Sponsors, donations
The sponsor of the eighth annual Real Heroes dinner was Green Crow Timber. Dinner sponsors were 7 Cedars Casino and the Jamestown S’Klallam tribe.
Hero sponsors were Chevron, First Federal, Bob and Marge Helander, Kelley Shields Inc., Kiwanis Club of Port Townsend, Dr. John Skow and Jeanne Skow, and George and Shirley Williams.
Table sponsors were Tom and Jay Dee Anderson, Auto Works, Jefferson Healthcare, Jim and Debbie Jones, Kiwanis Club of Port Angeles and Olympic Ambulance.
Business sponsors were Columbia Bank, Hallett Advisors, Henery’s Hardware and Garden Center, JM Grinnell Contracting Inc. and KMI Insurance.
Donations in honor of one of the Red Cross Real Heroes can be sent to American Red Cross; P.O. Box 188; Carlsborg, WA 98324
Donations will be used to provide disaster relief services to local families.
