Association for Rescue at Sea                FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Anne E. Skelton, Assistant Treasurer
341 East Argonne Drive
Kirkwood, MO  63122
Phone:  (314) 822-3454
Anneskelton@earthlink.net

ASSOCIATION FOR RESCUE AT SEA
ANNUAL AWARD CEREMONY - 2008

      The Association for Rescue at Sea, Inc. (AFRAS) will hold its annual award ceremony and reception on 25 September 2008.  The celebration will take place on Capitol Hill in Washington, D. C. and will be co-hosted by the Honorable Howard Coble, co-chairman, U.S. Congressional Coast Guard Caucus.

      AFRAS will be awarding a Gold medal, four Silver medals and the Amver plaque for outstanding rescues made in 2007.  The Gold Medal and a cash prize will be presented to Willard L. Milam, Aviation Survival Technician First Class, US Coast Guard; the Silver Medals and a cash prize will be awarded to Coxswain Shane A. Taylor and crewmen Richard H. Liebe and Raymond F. Miller, US Coast Guard Auxiliary, and crewman Michael Cupit, Canadian Coast guard Auxiliary; and the Amver plaque will be presented to the Captain and crew of C/S NORDNORGE.
 

     AFRAS is grateful for its platinum level supporters of this year’s ceremony:  EADS of North America, General Dynamics and Lockheed Martin.

GOLD MEDAL

Petty Officer Willard Milam will be awarded the prestigious AFRAS Gold Medal for his actions while serving as a Rescue Swimmer aboard Coast Guard helicopter CGNR 6525 on 10 February 2007. 
On a dark and drizzly winter morning, CGNR 6525 boldly launched from Air Station Kodiak in moderate seas and near-zero visibility to locate the source of a distress signal in the vicinity of Makushin Bay near Unalaska Island, Alaska.  Upon arrival, the crew of the Coast Guard helo spotted a flare from a life raft and AST1 Milam deployed into the frigid, 15 foot swells.  After a difficult swim to the raft, Milam climbed in and found four drenched survivors without protective clothing, one of whom was severely hypothermic.  AST1 Milam radioed the helicopter, and the crew quickly deployed the aircrew’s personal survival suits.  After retrieving two of the suits which had been swept away, Milam clambered back inside the life raft to assist the hypothermic survivors into the protective gear.

The rescue basket was delivered and Milam secured the first survivor after a brief struggle and radioed for hoist.  Swimming back to the raft, he felt his legs going numb and signaled for emergency pickup.  Back on board CGNR 6525, petty officer Milam discovered his motor functions were deteriorating from the cold water which had leaked into his dry suit.  Because fuel levels were getting uncomfortably low and the crew would be facing a headwind on the return trip, Milam valiantly opted to return to the 40-degree water and expeditiously loaded the next two survivors who were hoisted to safety.
While conducting the final hoist, the remaining survivor jumped into the basket knocking it from Milam’s hands.  As he swam toward the basket with the survivor, a wave broke over them causing the man to panic.  As a result, the hoist cable inadvertently wrapped around the survivor’s neck.  Milam carefully untangled the cable while maintaining control of the basket and expertly subdued the survivor, placing him in the basket and signaling for pick-up.  Now extremely fatigued and hypothermic, AST1 Milam mustered up strength to climb into the basket himself to be hoisted aboard CGNR6525.  On the return trip, Milam faded in and out of consciousness and was transferred to an awaiting ambulance along with the survivors.

Willard Milam’s extraordinarily valiant effort to save these four mariners with little regard for his personal safety are most heartily commended and in keeping with the highest traditions of the US Coast Guard.

SILVER MEDAL
 

     An AFRAS Silver medal will be awarded to US Coast Guard Auxiliarists Shane A. Taylor, Richard H. Liebe and Raymond F. Miller and to Canadian Coast Guard Auxiliarist Michael Cupit for outstanding achievement in the performance of duty while serving as coxswain and crew aboard CG275594 on 25 April 2007.  During a training exercise in Homer, Alaska the crew overheard a distress call from the 39-foot charter vessel HALIBUT ENDEAVOR stating they were rapidly taking on water and making way toward the nearest shore.  The crew noted the position of the vessel and immediately responded.  Transiting through 3-foot seas and 20-knot winds, the Auxiliary team arrived on scene in 20 minutes.
 

     Assessing the situation, the crew noted the vessel was listing to port and passengers were on the bow trying to balance her movement.  Shane Taylor, the auxiliary coxswain, brought his vessel alongside the port bow of the sinking boat and directed his crew and the master of HALIBUT ENDEAVOR to disembark all 13 passengers to the bow of CG275594. Mr. Miller and Mr. Cupit assisted passengers over the railing and safely onto the foredeck of the auxiliary vessel.  Seconds after 11 of the 13 passengers were brought safely on board CG275594, Mr. Liebe who was stationed on the stern to fend off, reported that the charter vessel was rolling toward them.  Mr. Taylor responded immediately, breaking away from HALIBUT ENDEAVOR.
 

     The three auxiliary crewmembers worked together to coax the passengers from the bow to the cabin, checking each for signs of hypothermia and injuries.  Meanwhile, Mr. Taylor nosed his bow up to the partially overturned vessel and held position while his crew pulled the two remaining survivors onboard, just minutes before HALIBUT ENDEAVOR rolled again and sank.
 

     Coxswain Taylor and crewmembers Liebe, Miller and Cupit exhibited extreme skill and superior decision making that made the rescue successful.  The heroic and skillful actions of the crew of CG275594 were instrumental in saving the lives of 13 people.

AMVER AWARD

AFRAS will present the captain and crew of the M/V NORDNORGE, a 400-foot Norwegian Cruise Ship the Amver plaque for the rescue of 154 passengers from the Cruise Ship EXPLORER on 23 November 2007.  The EXPLORER, the first cruise ship designed specifically to sail the icy waters of the Antarctic Ocean, reportedly struck an iceberg and was sinking 500 nautical miles south of Argentina near Antarctica.  All passengers and crew safely abandoned ship into lifeboats.
Answering an Amver distress call, Captain Hansen altered course of the C/S NORDNORGE and steamed approximately 5 hours to the area.  Despite air temperature of minus 5 degrees Celsius and water temperatures of 1 degree Celsius, the crew of NORDNORGE was able to rescue all 154 passengers and crew from the lifeboats.  The crew then brought the survivors to the ship’s observatory where they were counted and examined by the NORDNORGE’s medical staff.  Passengers of the C/S NORDNORGE donated dry clothing for the wet survivors.  The ship then ferried survivors to King George Island where they would fly back to the South American mainland.

Thanks to the willingness of the captain and crew of C/S NORDNORGE to divert from course and expertly come to the rescue of the passengers from the sinking cruise ship EXPLORER, 154 lives were saved.

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      The Association for Rescue at Sea (AFRAS) is a non-profit foundation with charitable status, which supports services concerned with saving lives at sea.  The Gold Medal presentation was established in 1982 and the medal is presented annually to an enlisted member of the United States Coast Guard for an act of extraordinary bravery during a rescue at sea.  AFRAS established the Silver Medal in 2000 (silver to denote the uniform markings of a CG Auxiliarist as opposed to the gold of the USCG) and it is presented when a Coast Guard Auxiliarist performs a rescue under the same criteria as that for an enlisted Coast Guard person.  The AFRAS Amver award was established in 1996 to recognize the contribution of seamen in ships at sea to the safety of their fellow mariners.  Nominations for all awards are made by the USCG's Search and Rescue Division.

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