Red Cross to hold ‘Real Heroes’ banquet; stories span from the traditional to the tragic

Vyacheslav Kornya’s left leg had been crushed by a one-ton piston that tore loose in the storm, and the leg was bleeding heavily.

He could have died from blood loss, but for Linnborn’s efforts.

Linnborn volunteered to make the dangerous landing from the helicopter onto the ship, which was pitching in 25-foot seas.

Linnborn loaded Kornya, whose leg was split open from knee to ankle, onto a rescue litter and wrenched a tourniquet tight with a crank handle.

He slowed the bleeding enough that Kornya survived the 90-mile trip to Olympic Medical Center in Port Angeles.

Linnborn’s efforts also maintained circulation in the leg, which gave Dr. Bob Watkins a chance to save both the leg and the mariner’s life.

On April 18, after 10 surgeries, a period of rehabilitation – and loaded with presents from area residents – Kornya flew home to the Ukraine to be reunited with his wife and child.

Anne Schneider and Ruth Merryman: The two women founded Working Image in Port Townsend in 1998 to help women who are starting their careers but cannot afford to buy professional clothes.

In addition to the clothing bank in the Port Townsend Business Park, 803 W. Park Ave., the program, which operates through Olympic Community Action Programs, also offers workshops on job interviewing and other topics in Jefferson, Clallam and Kitsap counties.

Women who have benefited from the program include Red Cross referrals, victims of fires and domestic violence and needy women re-entering the work force, Darling said.

Coast Guard Lt. Daniel Leary, Lt. j.g. Christian Polyak, and Aviation Mechanic Technician First Class Mike Cook: These helicopter crew members from Coast Guard Group/Air Station Port Angeles accomplished the highest-altitude recovery ever attempted on the North Olympic Peninsula.

Flying at just over 7,000 feet, the HH-65C Dolphin helicopter crew plucked an injured 64 year-old climber off a peak in the Olympic Mountains.

John Williams, the climber, had ruptured an Achilles tendon while climbing near the summit of The Brothers, a Jefferson County peak which rises 6,866 feet near the southwest boundary of Olympic National Park and Olympic National Forest.

Arlene Engel, instrumental in setting up the Life Line Emergency Medical Alert button, Engel continued her lifesaving efforts as a commissioner on the board of Olympic Medical Center by helping to acquire the Volunteers in Medicine in the Olympics free clinic building in Port Angeles.

Engel also has acted as an advocate for senior citizens, the disadvantaged and the disabled.

As well as making sure OMC provided funding for a psychiatric nurse at the free clinic, she also helped enact the Hargrove Bill – named after state Sen. Jim Hargrove, whose district includes Clallam and Jefferson counties.

The bill provides mental health funding and insurance for Clallam and Jefferson counties.

John, Susan, Evan and William O’Brien, and Max Gunn: These Port Townsend residents on vacation helped to rescue one man and tried to save another after the men’s canoe capsized on Lake Ozette last April 4.

John O’Brien heard a call for help from campers at Ozette and took his son, William, and friend, Max Gunn, to find two men who had been pulled from the lake after their canoe capsized.

Both Alex Joseph Dixon, 21, of Olympia and a friend with him in the canoe had been in the 46-degree water for 15 minutes before campers in another canoe pulled them from the water onto the shore.

While Gunn and William O’Brien called 9-1-1, John O’Brien took the men to the family’s cabin.

Susan O’Brien began cardiopulmonary resuscitation on one man while Evan O’Brien put heated towels on another and gave him hot chocolate.

Susan O’Brien administered CPR for a half-hour before a Coast Guard HH-65 Dolphin helicopter crew, which was training near Neah Bay, arrived.

Dixon was pronounced dead at Forks Community Hospital, while the other man, who was found cold but conscious, was not treated.

Olympic National Park officials did not release the names of the rest of the camping party, but said they were all from Olympia.

The next day, the O’Briens and their friend held an informal memorial service for the man they could not save, and gave thanks for the man who survived.

Craig and Josh Jacobs: While fishing in a small boat near the Strait of Juan de Fuca shore on April 7, the Port Angeles father and son saw black smoke rising from a yacht east of Pillar Point.

After calling 9-1-1 from a cellular phone, they headed toward the yacht in their 15-foot fishing boat.

When they thought they heard someone call out, they turned off the boat engines and listened.

They heard – and then saw – Jerald Justis, who had been living on the yacht, in the water.

The father and son struggled to pull the 300-pound Justis out of the water and away from the fire.

Immobilized by the extremely cold water, Justis was unable to move, but the Jacobses, aided by another set of fisherman, were finally able to pull him to safety.

After being transferred to a larger Canadian vessel, Justis was taken by a Coast Guard helicopter to OMC, where he was treated and discharged.

Port Angeles Police Officer Daniel Morse: This three-year veteran of the Port Angeles Police Department saved the life of a 16 year-old girl who shot herself in the chest with a handgun on Jan. 9.

Morse administered first aid and stopped her bleeding while emergency crews from the Port Angeles Fire Department were on their way.

Morse kept the girl calm and conscious while waiting for the ambulance.

Riding with her in the ambulance, Morse continued to administer aid.

He visited her several times in Olympic Medical Center as she recovered – and saw her back in school, where she is doing well.

Rob Edwards and Dave Hull: Climbing for several hours, a high mountain technical rescue team led by volunteers Edwards and Hull rescued hunter David Lee McLean of Gig Harbor, who had suffered a serious injury when a falling rock broke his leg in late November.

Using ropes, the team of volunteers from Clallam County Fire District No. 3 lowered McLean off the ledge.

They reached base camp as the sun was setting and the temperature neared freezing, and loaded the injured man into an ambulance.

He was taken to Olympic Medical Center and treated.

Port Angeles Fire Department: When a large motor home careened down the highway from Hurricane Ridge on July 17, struck several cars and broke through a guardrail on Race Street in Port Angeles to fall 20 feet, the firefighters of the Port Angeles Fire Department were faced with major challenges.

A total of 14 injured patients required medical attention and transportation.

Not all of the patients spoke English, and the seven passengers in the motor home – all from out of state – had both immediate and long-term needs to be met.

Five children needed care, because their mother was hospitalized and father fatally injured.

Over the next few hours, Port Angeles Fire Department personnel worked with the Olympic Medical Center hospital staff to mobilize the community.

Food, shelter and dollar donations were collected as the Fire Department and the hospital worked to meet the needs of the family.

The department will be represented at the Real Heroes Dinner by Assistant Chief Jamie Mason, Todd German and Jake Patterson.

Elaine Grinnell: This elder of the Lower Elwha Klallam tribe has been an educator, storyteller and counselor in the area school districts for years.

An advocate for bringing the Klallam language to the schools, Grinnell has worked to preserve and teach the language.

She uses artifacts to teach about the history of the tribes in the area.

She also has worked as a counselor to help get students to school, keep them in school and find success in education.