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Marines deliver aid to Haiti

US Marine Corps News

9/23/2008 By U.S. Naval Forces Southern Command, Marine Forces Command

Haiti — The amphibious ship USS Kearsarge (LHD 3) is in Haiti supporting disaster relief operations following a string of storms that have killed hundreds of Haitians and imperiled thousands of others. U.S. Southern Command directed U.S. Fourth Fleet to divert the ship Sept 8, which was in Colombia as part of a humanitarian assistance deployment. Currently, Marine Heavy Helicopter-464, Marine Aircraft Group-29, CH-53E helicopters from Marine Corps Air Station New River, NC, and landing craft from the USS Kearsarge are delivering aid to hard-hit areas.

HMH-464, has been executing exercise Continuing Promise Caribbean off the USS Kearsarge in South America for seven weeks and completed Humanitarian and Civic Assistance in Nicaragua and Colombia prior to being diverted for humanitarian relief operations in Haiti.

HMH-464 has been in Haiti for over 2 weeks providing Humanitarian Assistance from the USS Kearsarge and shore detachment for 3 days at Port au Prince. Day 1 (Sept. 8) started with a 150NM insert of the Commodore from the Western edge of the claw of Haiti through remnants of Hurricane Ike into Port au Prince. Once at the airport, the aircraft began delivery of food supplies and have transported 900,000 pounds of relief supplies out to 100 NM from Port au Prince in support of USAID and World Food Program to the Northern and Southern portions of Haiti.

The Marines have done an incredible job of keeping the aircraft in the air as well as manually loading up to 12,000 pounds per aircraft and then offloading it in zones across the country. The aircraft have also been used to insert medical and engineering teams to assess some of the outlying areas, which are inaccessible by vehicle due to flooding.

Lt. Col. William C. Bentley, HMH-464 commanding officer said, “Everyone is working hard to help the people of Haiti. It is a monumental effort. The city of Gonaives was one of the hardest hit, and still sits under 3 feet of mud. We are in the process of turning over the mission and will proceed with the Continuing Promise Caribbean mission to Dominican Republic, Trinidad, Guyana, and Panama.”