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Navy Recruiters Survive, Assist in Tonado Recovery Operations

Navy NewsStand

Story Number: NNS080430-01
Release Date: 4/30/2008 10:29:00 AM

By Mass Communication 1st Class (SCW/FMF) Lisa Keding, Navy Recruiting District Richmond Public Affairs

SUFFOLK, Va. (NNS) -- At approximately 4:30 p.m. April 28, Navy Recruiting Station Suffolk in Suffolk, was destroyed by a tornado. The station was in the Freedom Plaza Mall, which was also destroyed. There were no injuries reported of the three recruiters assigned to the station.

Boatswain's Mate 1st Class (EXW/SW) Joe Cantu and Culinary Specialist 1st Class (SW) Malcolm Gardner, recruiters assigned to the station, were in the building during the tornado, and sought shelter under desks as the tornado hit. They were not injured.

After the tornado hit, Cantu, Gardner and Gunner's Mate 1st Class (SW) Paul Denton, the third recruiter assigned to the station, who was across the street, assisted emergency officials in evacuating other victims from the wreckage in the Plaza, as well as from the Osisi Hospital, which was nearby the recruiting station. All three Sailors assisted with the recovery efforts and also helped to search nearby homes for other victims.

The recruiters were not aware of the tornado before it hit.

"It rained off and on all morning, there were clouds overhead, but we didn't know there was a tornado coming. We heard there was a storm coming, but within minutes the tornado hit. I saw the funnel cloud come across the highway, and then it went straight through our building and then turned and went up, and then it came right back down on a different path and hit the neighborhood," said Denton.

Denton and Cantu carried five patients in wheelchairs from the third floor of the hospital.

"It was a chaotic scene, it was like being back on a ship during a mass casualty drill. We moved walls looking for people at the plaza, and then assisted at the cancer center. It was all adrenaline, and we all just responded and helped out at as much as we could. I wasn't thinking. It was second nature to me and Cantu, and Gardner. We did what we had to do."

Emergency officials secured the buildings after search operations were concluded. The building and many of the local businesses suffered severe damage.

For more news from Navy Recruiting District Richmond, visit www.navy.mil/local/nrdrich.