Gunnery Sgt. Scott Dahn saving the world
Stars & Stripes reports the story of how Gunnery Sgt. Scott Dahn rescued honeymooning Chinese citizen Ching-Yi Sze from drowning on Okinawa;
Ching-Yi Sze — who was honeymooning on the southern Japanese island prefecture during the May 20 incident — ripped off her mask. When a dive leader put it back on, she pulled out her regulator, which he also replaced, said Dahn, who initially assumed the two were training.
But when the woman again removed her mask and regulator, Dahn — a 3rd Maintenance Battalion training chief based at Camp Kinser — immediately responded.
“She was flailing in the water, which is usually the sign of a panicked diver,” he said.
When Dahn reached Sze, who was 30 feet away, he put the regulator back in her mouth. She spat it out, so he grabbed it and pushed against her teeth until she opened up, he said. Dahn then held the regulator to her face and signaled to the dive leader that they needed to head up.
By the time they reached the surface, Sze was unresponsive and barely breathing. Her lips were blue, her eyes had rolled back into her head, and she was foaming at the mouth because of the saltwater she had ingested.
Dahn inflated her buoyancy control vest and began towing her to shore.
When they reached land, he carried her up several flights of stairs and helped her breath through an oxygen tank while his wife, April, called for paramedics.
Dahn laid Sze on her left side while she coughed up seawater.
Category: Marine Corps
BRAVO ZULU Leatherneck, well done!
Thanks Warrior!!
Great work, Gunny. Way to keep a cool head. I’ve never been a lifeguard, but from what I hear a panicked swimmer is just as likely to take out the rescuer as themselves.
It probably helps when the panicked swimmer is about 1/6 the size of her rescuer, but you’re correct. I’ve been trained in river/floodwater rescue, and there’s a reason why sending a rescue swimmer is the last resort. I can only imagine how much worse a panicked first-time diver must be underwater. Gunny Dahn handled business!
I was that swimmer -13 or 14 in the river tipped+ upside down, kicked of the bottom twice – no memory after that, the rescuers push me from behind to shallow water. Oh and I’m retired Navy.
Bravo Zulu, Gunny, that’s the way to take charge!
Thanks AW1Ed Semper Fi!!
Well Done
No better friend….
Drowning people do crazy things including killing their rescuers to save themselves in a panic.
In this case – 230 lbs marine vs 100 lb Chinese girl. Not an issue.
Back in my lifesaving days – physically approaching a drowing victim was a last resort and you went in ready for a fight.
A significant part of Rescue Swimmer training was how to extricate oneself from various choke holds by panicked swimmers- or better, sadistic SAR Instructors. If you could defeat THEM, you were pretty much good to go anywhere.
There was one small bit of what to do about a panicky swimmer in boot camp: swim up behind him/her/it and grab the shirt collar or swimsuit or hair (if there is any) and punch in face if necessary. There may have been other things, but those are what I remember.
Fine job, Marine.
I was surprised how calm I was but about 3 hrs after it hit me what really happened. Just glad she is alive! Semper Fi!
Well Done, Marine.
THANKS RGR 4-78 Semper Fi!
Well done Gunny! Damned well done indeed.
Thanks Sparks it was a great moment.. just glad she is still alive and able to continue her family!
Note to posers…this is how the REAL heros do it!
Thanks Dustoff!! Semper Fi!!
HooYah USMC … BRAVO ZULU!
In a related story, the US Navy and USMC are preparing to destroy the new Chineeze Navy and the battle will likely take place in the Straits of Taiwan.
MCPO OUT
BZ!
If you’re going to rescue a hundred pound woman, it probably helps to be able to bench press a Buick.
Well done, Marine, damn well done.
I’ve noticed that posers don’t often wear the Navy and Marine Corps Medal awarded for such actions. Probably b/c they’re too busy awarding themselves the Silver Star or Navy Cross.
Hello Chief,
Bench Press a Buick that made me laugh my ass off… Yes she was about 85-90lbs so that was an easy carry.
Sir: I’ve posted here many times that my best tours of duty in my Navy career were the years I spent with the USMC.
What you did was something very few would have been able to do. A drowning person has superhuman strength and more than one rescuer has lost their life in the effort.
Thank you for your heroism and going in harm’s way to save this lady. You are a tremendous asset to the Corps.
PS: I did a tour on Oki, 70-71, Camp Hansen, 3rd Med Battalion. My, those were great times working with and for great people.
Salute, Guns.
On May 20, 2018 I was conducting Dive Master duties with a PADI Rescue class at Cape Meada in Okinawa Japan. After the instructor finished teaching the skills required for the resuce class we were returning back to the surface when , at about 80 feet I noticed a person in a different group pulled off their mask and was panicking. The leader of the panicking persons group did not see any of this going on as they were occupied with something else. Next the panicking diver removed her regulator from her mouth and tried yelling. The Dive leader then noticed what was going on and put the regulator back in the divers mouth. The Dive leader then signaled with the ok sign to see if they were ok and the panicking diver shook their head no and started flailing around. The panicking diver (she) then ripped off her mask and regulator for a second time. At that point I swam as fast as I could to assist her. I checked my dive computer and it showed I was at 70-80 feet deep. I then tried to put the regulator back in her mouth but she was fighting me in panic and refused to take her regulator. I also had to ensure she wouldn’t dislodge my regulator or mask during my attempts to assist her. I then had to forcibly place her regulator in her mouth because she was clenching her mouth shut. As soon as her regulator touched her teeth she opened her mouth, I pushed the regulator in her mouth, purged the water out and held it in her mouth for her so she wouldn’t spit it out again. I took her by the arm and signaled to the dive leader that I was going to assend slowly with the panicked diver in order not to get decompression sickness. Once on the surface of the water I filled her Boyancy Control Device with air and the dive leader as well as my wife, April Dahn, surfaced next to me. I could see the victims lips were blue and… Read more »
You did good, Marine! Thanks, from all of us no longer able to charge that hard.
And thanks for checking in with us.
One very lucky young lady. Great story, Gunny- stick around. I think you’ll like it here.
Maeda…a lot of service members and locals lost their lives up there from storms, drowning, typhoons. We were warned not to just go up there willy nilly when I got there in 2006, seems not a lot has changed. Well done Gunny!
Gunny: It sure would be nice to have you here on a regular basis. You can be completely anonymous. Getting real insight into what is taking place in the USMC/US Military from a primary source would be nice. Please give it some thought.
Blessings …