Weather Channel to Feature USCG Rescue Swimmers

beatkp

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From the USCGA alumni newsletter:

Friday, February 15, 2008
The Weather Channel's "When Weather Changed History" will feature the history of the Coast Guard's rescue swimmer program on Sunday, February 24th (check your local listings for exact times).

The story begins with the Marine Electric tragedy. If you recall, on February, 11, 1983, just off the Virginia coast, the Marine Electric ship journeyed to Massachusetts with 27,000 tons of coal. As a blizzard swept offshore, gale-force winds capsized the coal ship, leaving only a few crewmembers alive. The Congressional inquiry into the tragedy helped establish the Coast Guard Rescue Swimmer program. The program’s success and the Marine Electric’s legacy became apparent in 2005 when Coast Guard helicopter teams rescue Hurricane Katrina survivors.

The program features interviews with active and retired rescue swimmers as well as our own Martha LaGuardia, author of So Others may Live: Coast Guard Rescue Swimmers Saving Lives, Defying Death
 
Thanks for the heads-up on this one.

They (The Weather Channel) feature the US Coast Guard and the rescue swimmers a lot on another show called "Storm Stories."

When you use the "Search" feature on the DVR and enter the words "Coast Guard", you'll be amazed at how many shows it finds!
 
A Navy H-3 and crew out of NAS Oceana, Virginia Beach, effected probably the most heroic wet swimmer rescues in SAR history that night.
 
A Navy H-3 and crew out of NAS Oceana, Virginia Beach, effected probably the most heroic wet swimmer rescues in SAR history that night.

Absolutely. :thumb:

Navy swimmer Jim McCann started it all, 40 foot seas and a mask frozen to his face he was able to save 3 of the 34 crewman in the water.

I think he was also one of the first instructors that trained the USCG rescue swimmers in the first classes down at Pensacola before moving it to Elizabeth City.
 
Sorry about the programing miss cue. The TWC's history of the Coast Guard's rescue swimmer program is on this week at 8 & 11 pm Mon. thru Thru..
 
Spotlight's getting a little bright for the aviation community and ASTs.
 
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