THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, August 18, 1994 TAG: 9408180528
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY ANNE SAITA, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: ELIZABETH CITY LENGTH: Medium: 77 lines
A Coast Guard veteran who leaped into raging seas and saved the lives of three sailors who had abandoned their sailboat was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross on Wednesday.
The medal, given to those displaying the highest level of valor, went to Aviation Survivalman Second Class Scott G. Adlon.
``This is the highest award we can give you in the flying business without being dead first,'' Capt. Norman V. Scurria Jr., commander of the Coast Guard's Elizabeth City Air Station, told Adlon at a morning ceremony attended by about 110 people.
An average of only five Flying Crosses are awarded annually among the service's 36,000 active members, but Adlon was the fourth member of the Elizabeth City Coast Guard Air Station to be awarded the medal this year.
Adlon and 10 of his fellow airmen were honored for last winter's dramatic rescue of three crewman aboard the sailing vessel Dutchess.
An HH-60J Jayhawk helicopter crew had just returned to Elizabeth City after plucking four men from a disabled fishing vessel when it was called to answer a distress call from the 52-foot Dutchess.
The sailboat was headed to the Bahamas when it encountered a hurricane-like storm about 170 miles east of Cape Hatteras.
``That a sailboat went out in December and found itself in a lot of trouble is no surprise,'' Scurria said.
During the flight, the chopper's No. 2 engine fire light came on, and the crew declared an emergency, intending to turn back.
But a few minutes later a patrol plane spotted the Dutchess, ravaged by 80 mph winds and 25-foot seas, just before all three crewmen on the sailboat abandoned ship, leaping in crashing waters.
The helicopter crew went to the men's aid despite the violent conditions and the warning of a malfunctioning engine.
Adlon, a rescue swimmer with almost eight years in the service, jumped into the ocean and battled the waves while saving all three men.
``Surfing up and down huge swells, he became disoriented and frequently lost sight of the victims,'' his citation read. ``With one arm wrapped around the victims, he struggled with them one at a time toward the rescue basket, which was repeatedly swept away by the raging seas.
``Twice he was left dangling 20 feet in the air as the seas dropped out from under him, then (he was) smashed violently against the basket by the following sea.''
At the conclusion of Wednesday's 30-minute ceremony, Adlon expressed gratitude toward his coworkers, particularly the crew that hovered overhead during the dramatic rescue.
``It's kind of like having a big brother around to look out for us,'' Adlon said in between handshakes from colleagues and hugs from family members.
Receiving the Coast Guard Air Medal was Lt. Cmdr. Bruce C. Jones, the helicopter pilot, and AE3 Thomas H. Parker, the flight mechanic. Lt. j.g. Mark L. Collier, the co-pilot, was given the Coast Guard Commendation Medal.
Lt. Cmdr. William D. Osborn and AE1 Robert J. Stevenson III earned the Coast Guard Achievement Medal.
The Commandant's Letter of Commendation was given to Lt. L. Phillip Smart, AT1 Andrew S. Hampton, AD3 Debra A. Gerald, AD3 Christopher S. Miller and AT3 Steven J. Roth.
Jones was one of three members from another heroic rescue who earned the Distinguished Flying Cross last April. That mission provided similar challenges in rescuing the crew of the pleasure boat Malachite.
In that case, the helicopter crew used split-second timing to pluck the mariners from swirling seas and then fly on to Bermuda - the longest distance ever flown by a Jayhawk helicopter without refueling.
Scurria used Wednesday's ceremony to admonish pleasure boaters who head into open seas during the winter.
``Pass the word to your friends that the Atlantic Ocean in the wintertime is a nasty, nasty place - predictably,'' he told the crowd, which included about 75 Coast Guardsmen.
KEYWORDS: HERO by CNB