Coast Guard pilot William Peterson to be honored for rescue
Coast Guard pilot William Peterson will be inducted onto the Wall of Gallantry at the Coast Guard Academy in New London, Connecticut for his daring rescue of eight Coast Guardsmen and contractor when their airplane crashed on a hillside on the western Aleutian Island of Attu off Alaska in 1982, according to the Sacramento Bee.
Visibility was only 50 feet because of fog and winds gusted to over 46 miles per hour in the North Pacific as Peterson tried to fly a rescue helicopter to the fiery crash site. Following an emergency beacon, Peterson and his crew found three survivors who had walked down the hill and flew them to a Coast Guard base on the island.
Peterson returned in the helicopter and inched it up to the crash site. He and the crew found a fourth victim and flew him to safety after a gust of wind nearly blew the aircraft into the hillside as it hovered along the steep terrain.
Knowing it would be too dangerous to try to hover the chopper again, Peterson landed it about a mile or so down the hill. He and the crew trekked up with stretchers, returned to the helicopter with five more injured victims and then flew them to another base at a nearby island for medical treatment.
62-year-old Peterson retired in 2006 as the chief of aviation forces at Coast Guard headquarters in Washington, D.C.
Category: Coast Guard
This man clanks when he walks.
Good to read about a real hero from time to time, not these wannabe posers.
No helicopter ever built could get those stones off the ground.
CAPT Peterson was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for that action, which seems perfectly appropriate. I hope that some of those who he rescued will attend the ceremony in Connecticut.
BZ, Captain!
Semper Paratus
BZ!
1982? Better late than never. And Bravo Zulu, Captain Peterson, to you and your crew.
He wrote a book, too.
https://www.amazon.com/Miracle-Attu-Rescue-CG-1600/dp/1506902871/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1478795499&sr=1-1&keywords=%22A+Miracle+at+Attu%3A+The+Rescue+of+CG-1600.%22
Well done Capt. Peterson. Damned well done Sir! Men are alive today because of your bravery and skills and those of your crew.
The Coasties rarely* get the respect they deserve.
I mean, the Coast Guard is at war with mother nature. And they win lots of battles in that war.
*no doubt many of y’all remember the Coasties in your prayers and thanksgivings. I, though, often forget and feel a bit shameful of that.
Amen to that. I know I tend to overlook them as well. Outstanding job Captain Peterson!
It took them 34 freakin’ years to honor this man?!?!?
My salute to you Captain Peterson!
Three times the CG has gotten me and/or family members out of potentially dangerous situations. The first time I was eight years old. We were beaching our boat and it broached to, flipping my brother under the boat which came down on top of him. The CG came and took him to the nearest port and then put him on a helicopter to a hospital. I love me some Coasties ever since.