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Tarawa Team Acts Fast to Save Marine

Navy Newsstand

Story Number: NNS030714-05

Release Date: 7/14/2003 9:41:00 AM

By Navy Journalist Seaman David Perea, USS Tarawa Public Affairs

ABOARD USS TARAWA (NNS) -- A week away from home and in the middle of the night, the crew of USS Tarawa (LHA 1) was faced with a man overboard. At approximately 12:15 a.m. (local standard time), a wide spectrum of Sailors and Marines aboard the San Diego-based amphibious assault ship successfully rescued an embarked Marine who had gone overboard approximately 560 miles northeast of the Hawaiian Islands.

The entire crew jumped into action when a person was reported overboard July 7 at 11 p.m. (local time). The flight deck crew manned the edge of the flight deck, some wearing night vision goggles, and began to search for the fallen Marine. The ship circled the starboard side, where the Marine had gone overboard, and spotlights scanned the dark waters from the signal bridge. The flight deck crew launched its search and rescue CH-46 Sea Knight helicopter (SAR Bird).

After approximately an hour of searching "hopes were fading," said Aviation Boatswain Mate 1st Class Kelly Owens, one of the many crew members searching on the flight deck during the incident.

According to Owens, the SAR Bird was running low on fuel, further daunting its confidence. After Aviation Boatswain Mate 1st Class Lucas Willdigg spotted something with a naked eye, the ship headed for the area of the sighting. Owens began to follow a "plastic bag-like" object drifting in the water and called it in. The SAR Bird took a closer look and the Marine was found. The flares went up, and the Marine was recovered within minutes. Seventy-five minutes after the first reports were received that someone had fallen overboard, the Marine was recovered and taken to Tarawa's medical department.

Afterwards, the Marine, attached to the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit (Special Operations Capable), based in Camp Pendleton, Calif., was reported in good condition in the ship's medical department.

"The search was organized on the spot and everything went pretty smoothly," said Owens.

At the time of the incident, Tarawa was returning from the last port visit of the 2003 Western Pacific deployment in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii July 2-6. Tarawa had participated in Operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom, as part of a scheduled six-month deployment to the western Pacific, Indian Ocean and Arabian Gulf.