August 7, 2005: Headlines: COS - Philippines: Aviation: Helicoprters: Hurricane Relief: The Gleaner: Philippines RPCV Tom Swanberg lifted desperate Hurricane Katrina survivors to safety

Peace Corps Online: Directory: Philippines: Peace Corps Philippines: The Peace Corps in the Philippines: August 7, 2005: Headlines: COS - Philippines: Aviation: Helicoprters: Hurricane Relief: The Gleaner: Philippines RPCV Tom Swanberg lifted desperate Hurricane Katrina survivors to safety

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Philippines RPCV Tom Swanberg lifted desperate Hurricane Katrina survivors to safety

Philippines RPCV Tom Swanberg  lifted desperate Hurricane Katrina survivors to safety

Swanberg, who was part of the Coast Guard response to last fall's four major hurricanes, said he at least knew that his family was fine and that his property had sustained relatively little damage. But there were so many Coast Guard and other airlift crews who were out helping others "and didn't know if their homes were still standing." Most of their families had evacuated.

Philippines RPCV Tom Swanberg lifted desperate Hurricane Katrina survivors to safety

Rescue pilot from Henderson describes work saving survivors

By Judy Jenkins
The Gleaner
Henderson, Ky.
September 7, 2005

While you were watching those orange Coast Guard search and rescue helicopters hovering over rooftops in flooded New Orleans and lifting desperate Hurricane Katrina survivors to safety, you may have been seeing former Henderson resident Tom Swanberg at work.

Swanberg, 42, is a Coast Guard Lt. Commander pilot/instructor who flew 15 search and rescue sorties over the drowned city last week, carefully avoiding powerlines, buildings and numerous other helicopters as his crew's "rescue swimmer" was lowered on a tether to the waiting adults and children.

He and his co-pilot, flight mechanic and rescue swimmer airlifted some 100 people over the course of the week, including a family of six or seven children ranging in age from 3 months to 15. On that occasion, the rescue swimmer had to take an ax to the sharply slanted roof to remove the parents and children from the attic.

They've rescued hungry and thirsty people who had nothing left but the clothes on their backs, and also have relocated extremely ill patients from deluged hospitals to secure medical facilities in other cities.

Swanberg's initial search and rescue sortie took place at about 1 a.m. last Tuesday morning. That flight, to the hard-hit Bay St. Louis area of Mississippi may have been the very first search and rescue mission into Mississippi. Swanberg knows his crew was at least "among the first four or five."

At that point, it was thought that New Orleans had dodged the bullet and gotten through Katrina with far less harm than had been anticipated.

It wasn't long before the crew on Swanberg's H56 helicopter saw flares and found 10 stranded "shrimpers" whose shrimp boat had been carried into trees by the storm surge. For the vessel's protection, the fishermen had taken the boat from the Gulf into a river.

Swanberg, who lives with wife Lori -- from Shelbyville, Ky. -- and children Boone, Josey, Raney and Emmey in the western section of Mobile, returned home following his "shift" and slept in the house that had no electricity. The kids, who range in age from 6-13, were all home because their Catholic school didn't resume classes until this week. Windows were up in the hope of catching a breeze and the sounds of generators from some neighboring homes could be heard.

But Swanberg had no trouble sleeping. In a telephone interview Monday from Mobile, the 1981 Henderson County High graduate said, "It wouldn't have mattered if there'd been a marching band in the room."

That was his pattern throughout the week. On Tuesday night, he as senior pilot and his crew flew into New Orleans. "It was truly almost surreal," said Swanberg, who trains pilots and has conducted search and rescue sorties for 12 years -- most on the open sea.

"Flying into an area at night is a little disorienting in itself," Swanberg said, "and to just see roof tops and water ... There were hundreds of flashlights trying to flag us down. We didn't know where to begin, so we just picked a place. As soon as we'd drop people off, we'd go back for more."

There wasn't a great deal of conversation between the crew and those rescued, he said. "We were so busy trying to get more people in and off-loaded (first at a cloverleaf off I-10 and then later at the international airport). We could tell they were very grateful, but for the most part they were in shock."

Swanberg, who was part of the Coast Guard response to last fall's four major hurricanes, said he at least knew that his family was fine and that his property had sustained relatively little damage. But there were so many Coast Guard and other airlift crews who were out helping others "and didn't know if their homes were still standing." Most of their families had evacuated.

He said the skies were full of aircraft, because virtually every rescue craft between Houston and Mobile had been called into service.

He acknowledges that the crew had to use extreme caution because of the many obstacles, but nevertheless believes these sorties were easier than ones on the open sea. "When you're over open water, there are no fixed objects for reference."

The 1988 University of Kentucky graduate who, with his wife, spent the next two years serving in the Peace Corps in the Philippines, is the son of Henderson resident Margaret Swanberg and the late Cliff Swanberg. His dad was a career Marine.

Though spending much of his time teaching fledgling pilots, Swanberg -- who joined the Coast Guard in 1990 -- continues to fly 20 to 25 hours a month and is in flight simulators an equal amount of time.

This week, he's scheduling flights for other crews and expects to be flying Coast Guard environmentalists and others into New Orleans for the overwhelming tasks that are ahead. But sleeping is more comfortable, as electricity to the Swanberg residence was restored Saturday.

The tall (6-feet, 4-inches) pilot, who has been stationed in Mobile two years, is gratified that he could be part of the massive rescue effort but is looking forward to returning to his teaching role.

Reminded that hurricane season is far from over and other storms continue to brew in the Atlantic, the weary Swanberg sighed and said, "I don't even want to think about it."





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Story Source: The Gleaner

This story has been posted in the following forums: : Headlines; COS - Philippines; Aviation; Helicoprters; Hurricane Relief

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