By Staff Sgt. Kristi Moon
Louisiana Army and Air National Guard
CHALMETTE, La. – It wasn't your typical reunion. The event that brought Louisiana Airmen together in 2005 for the worst natural disaster in U.S. history was Hurricane Katrina.
This time, the Louisiana Airmen dispatched to St. Bernard Parish prevented flooding and saved people and property from massive destruction. Back then, they rescued people from the waters that flooded an entire parish. They saved lives then and now.
"This was a lot different from Katrina," said Senior Master Sgt. James Wood, 159th Security Forces Squadron. "There would've been very few people for us to rescue if it [Gustav] had come ashore here," he said. The parish estimates that 95 percent of its residents heeded the mandatory evacuation call.
These Airmen equate rescuing with Katrina. In 2005 Airmen used boats, canoes and a ferry to retrieve residents from attics and rooftops and take them to a ferry at the river. Tech Sgt. Tommy Roper said, "We did that for four to five days. I think we moved at least 2,000 people out of harms way."
Prevention is the equation for Gustav as many of the same Airmen from Katrina, shored up levees and flood walls near Braithwaite Park and stopped what was potentially another Katrina-style disaster.
Senior Master Sgt. Brian Cooper of the 159th Fighter Wing described the levee scene the night of, Sept. 1, 2008. "All of this was a big waterfall," he said of the water topping the levee, washing away the clay top turning the ground to soft sludge. That was until the Air Guard delivered over 3,000 sandbags and helped form a human chain to shore the levee and flood wall.
Local resident Dave Giggenheimer, who owns Ponstein's Food Store in Chalmette, said he was beside himself Monday night thinking he was going to go through another flood. He expressed his thanks to the Airmen for saving his house from flooding and promised to send a letter to the governor thanking the Air National Guard.
"It made me feel good that we saved them [from flooding] this time when we couldn't do that last time," said Master Sgt. Robert Childress of the 214th Engineering Installation Squadron.
For these Airmen who saved an entire community from flooding, it's not about being heroes though. "We just did what people asked us to do," said Senior Master Sgt. Paul Beebe of the 214th EIS. "I can believe we made a real difference this time though."
For Master Sgt. Robert Salvaggio, also of the 214th EIS, who delivered sandbags to levee breeches, this time was different. "This is a cake walk compared to what we did for Katrina," he said.
As residents prepared to return home, Salvaggio said his heart goes out to them for everything they experienced then and now.
| Date Taken: |
09.06.2008 |
| Date Posted: |
09.08.2008 12:36 |
| Story ID: |
23372 |
| Location: |
US |
| Web Views: |
224 |
| Downloads: |
180 |
PUBLIC DOMAIN
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