2002 AFRAS Gold Medal / AMVER Award Ceremony

The honorable Norman Minetta, Secretary of Transportation, congratulates the AFRAS Awardees as Congressman Howard Coble and Coast Guard Commandant Thomas Collins look on.	Admiral Thomas Collins, Commandant, U.S. Coast Guard, addresses the group.	Admiral James Gracey presents the AMVER plaque to Ole B. Stene, President of Barber International (USA) Inc., a representative of M/V TAMPA.
Silver Medalist Henry 'Cleve' Chandler	Admiral James Gracey presents the Gold Medal to Eric Forslund.	Admiral James Gracey congratulates Gold Medal winner Christopher D'Amelio.

AFRAS Award Ceremony 2002

On 13 November, 2002 in Washington, D. C., the Association for Rescue at Sea (AFRAS) awarded its Gold Medal and a cash prize to United States Coast Guardsmen Christopher D'Amelio, Boatswain’s Mate First Class and Eric Forslund, Aviation Survival Technician First Class for a heroic joint rescue off the mouth of the Columbia River.

This was AFRAS's first year to award its Silver Medal to a United States Coast Guard Auxiliarist for extraordinary bravery in a rescue at sea. Auxiliarist Henry ‘Cleve’ Chandler was the recipient of this award.

AFRAS also presented its AMVER plaque to the captain and crew of the Norwegian-flagged M/V TAMPA for exceptional humanitarian service in a rescue at sea.

The award ceremony and reception were co-hosted by The Honorable Howard Coble, co-Chairman, Congressional Coast Guard Caucus. The reception was made possible by a grant from AFRAS’ sister charity Maritime Rescue Institute (MRI).

AFRAS was delighted to have in attendance at the ceremony The Honorable Norman Minetta, Secretary of Transportation, Admiral Thomas Collins, Commandant US Coast Guard, plus Congressmen Frank LoBiondo, Howard Coble, Brian Baird, Henry Brown, and Sam Farr.

Gold Medal Awardees

Christopher D'Amelio and Eric Forslund are cited for heroic achievement on the afternoon of 2 September 2001 in the rescue of four persons ejected from their 22-foot recreational fishing boat by a 20-foot wave in the vicinity of peacock Spit at the mouth of Oregon's Columbia River.

Christopher D’Amelio

Petty Officer D’Amelio was serving as the Surfman on board Coast Guard Motor Lifeboat (MLB) 47248. Arriving on scene, he found four people clinging to the overturned vessel. He then skillfully maneuvered the MLB through the breaking 15-18 foot surf to within 200 yards of the overturned vessel. To prevent the MLB from being rolled by the breakers, he headed into the surf and then attempted to back the MLB to the survivors. He spotted a set of smaller breakers and seized the opportunity to dash the MLB at maximum power to the survivors. Petty Officer D'Amelio expertly maneuvered his vessel near the capsized boat while Petty Officer Eric Forslund from Coast Guard Helicopter 6008 swam the survivors to the motor lifeboat where they were recovered.

Once all four survivors were on board, Petty Officer D'Amelio sought calmer water where he and his crew evaluated their condition. One survivor needed immediate medical attention, so Petty Office D’Amelio quickly coordinated and directed the survivor’s transfer to the hovering Coast Guard helicopter.

Petty Officer D'Amelio's superb Surfman skills and leadership in the most demanding of circumstances were directly responsible for the rescue of four people.

Eric Forslund

Gold Medal Awardee Eric Forslund is cited for his actions in the same rescue while serving as Rescue Swimmer aboard Coast Guard Helicopter CG 6008. Upon arrival, the crew of the helicopter CG 6008 found all four persons clinging to the side of an overturned hull in the 15-20 foot surf. Within seconds, a devastating wall of water washed one survivor off the boat's hull. Petty Officer Forslund immediately went into the water from the helicopter, swam through the breaking waves, found the survivor, and then swam 30 yards using a cross chest carry to the MLB CG 47248.

During the minutes that followed, Petty Officer Forslund swam back and forth through the breaking surf to retrieve the remaining three survivors. As Petty Officer Forslund rescued the second survivor, an enormous wave broke on top of them. Despite being completely submerged and having his mask torn away from his face, Petty Officer Forslund maintained a tight hold of the survivor, signaled for the MLB to throw its life ring to get the survivor aboard the motor lifeboat, and quickly returned to the remaining survivors.

Since the two remaining survivors shared a single life jacket, Petty Officer Forslund was forced to swim through the exceptionally dangerous seas towing the two at the same time. During that arduous swim, the powerful surf propelled Petty Officer Forslund and the survivors perilously close to the MLB. With a great presence of mind and extraordinary physical effort, Petty Officer Forslund maneuvered the two survivors clear of the violently tossing motor lifeboat and safely delivered them to its crew.

Petty Officers D’Amelio and Forslund demonstrated by their joint heroic efforts under the most trying of conditions their high level of personal and joint preparedness for such operations and a readiness to risk themselves in order to save others.

Silver Medalist

Henry ‘Cleve’ Chandler

Auxiliarist Chandler is cited for a uniquely heroic rescue on 13 July 2000 at risk to his own life.

While with a group of children on a boating trip at Lake Tangipahoa, Mississippi, Auxiliarist Chandler saw a Plymouth van slide down an embankment next to the dam and into the lake. While racing his boat to the scene, Chandler briefed the other adult on the boat on what to do.

Diving into the water, Auxiliarist Chandler quickly arrived at the passenger window and observed an elderly couple, frozen in terror, sitting in the van. Based on Chandler's direction, the other adult from the boat put a life jacket on the male driver and assisted him from the van, which was now taking on water at an increasing rate. The female passenger, besides being terrified to the point of hysteria, was overweight and had had a knee replacement, which immobilized her leg. As the driver was pulled out, the van suddenly sank with a gulping sound, taking down with it both the female passenger and Auxiliarist Chandler.

The water depth by the dam ranges from 20 to 30 feet, and the van disappeared from sight. After resurfacing for a moment, Chandler dove back down again and finally came up with the rescued victim. Park Rangers and Police provided emergency medical assistance to the semi-conscious woman. She recovered fully.

Auxiliarist Chandler's rapid response, skillful direction, and unselfish actions are most heartily commended. They demonstrate the very best of the readiness of the volunteer United States Coast Guard Auxiliary to meet a wide variety of needs and service.

AMVER Plaque

Norwegian-flagged M/V TAMPA

The Association for Rescue at Sea was also pleased to present its AMVER plaque to the captain and crew of the Norwegian-flagged M/V TAMPA for a rescue that made international headlines. The AMVER Safety Network is a voluntary, worldwide ship reporting system, which is operated by the United States Coast Guard and involves ships from over 140 nations.

On 26 August 2001, in the Indian Ocean off Indonesia, the master and crew of the 800-foot combination roll-on/roll-off and container ship M/V TAMPA were advised via a distress alert from Rescue Coordination Center (RCC) Australia on the Inmarsat-C terminal of a grossly overloaded 20-meter wooden boat with a disabled engine that was taking on water.

Upon diverting and making visual contact, Captain Arne Rinnan observed that, fortunately, most of the people were below deck or otherwise the vessel would have capsized. Captain Rinnan provided a lee for the distressed vessel, and backed down alongside. Using his main engine and the forward and aft thrusters, he brought his major vessel skillfully alongside the stricken vessel without endangering further its overload of Afghan migrants.

The transfer of survivors was accomplished via the ship's accommodation ladder. Because the ladder had to be kept above the boat for fear of it getting fouled, the passengers had to be lifted by hand one at a time from the distressed vessel. Three strong crewmen of M/V TAMPA took turns lifting each person from the boat onto the ladder. This personal effort and splendid ship handling helped avoid panic and a disastrous capsizing. It took fully two hours to embark everyone on board. The final count of survivors was 438: 369 men, 26 women and 43 children. Despite the poor physical condition of the survivors, the rescue was accomplished without injuries.

AFRAS salutes Captain Rinnan and the crew of M/V TAMPA for responding in the tradition of AMVER, for the great skill and seamanship involved, and for having in the crew three men capable of lifting 438 people to safety in two hours.