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VMR-1 Marines lend Coast Guard a hand

USMC News

Story Identification Number: 2003320145528
Story by Pvt. Rocco DeFilippis

MARINE CORPS AIR STATION CHERRY POINT, N.C.(March 21, 2003) -- MARINE CORPS AIR STATION CHERRY POINT, N.C. (Mar. 21, 2003) "Welcome to hell," reads a sign on a wall of the United States Coast Guard Frying Pan Shoal lighthouse located 32.5 miles south east off the shore of Cape Fear N.C.

Marines from Marine Transport Squadron 1 worked together with Coastguardsmen from Cost Guard Group Ft. Macon to remove equipment from the light house which is no longer in use.

"When the light house was put out of commission in the early 80s, the coastguardsmen that left last left behind most of the equipment due to financial restraints," said Coast Guard Cmdr. D.W. Lee, group commanding officer for United States Coast Guard Group Ft. Macon.

"Our primary mission was to find and bring back any equipment that might still be valuable to the Coast Guard, and to get the light back up and running long enough until the Frying Pan is torn down in a couple of months."

The purpose of the Frying Pan Shoals, was to mark the coast and warn tankers and freight ships of the pan shaped sand bars off the coast of Cape Fear.

"The light house was built in 1964, and it has been through quite a few hurricanes. It's just not safe any more, and with modern technology like global positioning systems and electronic charting, the light has become unnecessary," Lee said. "It's like a ghost town now."

In addition to retrieving equipment the Coastguardsmen also got the Frying Pan's generators up and running to provide energy to the light.

"I was surprised to find out that they had everything we needed to fix the light still here," said Coast Guard Petty Officer 3rd Class Nathan Curtis, and electrician at Coast Guard Group Ft. Macon. "We didn't need any of the tools or replacement parts that we brought to get the light back on."

This operation was just one of many in which the Marines of VMR-1 work in conjunction with the Coast Guard.

"We work with them all the time," said Petty Officer 2nd Class Matthew Bonnett, a corpsman with VMR-1, and a Horse Shoe, N.C. native. "We do everything from search and rescue missions to area familiarization flights."

"Last year we flew 123 missions, 74 of them were with the Coast Guard," said Bonnett. "Together we can accomplish almost any search and rescue mission."

Pedro has transported Coastguardsmen out to the Frying Pan at least once a year for the last four years to perform maintenance on the aging lighthouse.

"That will probably be the last time we go out there," said Maj. G. A. Case, search and rescue officer in charge, and an Alexandria, Ky. native. "It was the 'Farewell to the Frying Pan.'"