THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, June 9, 1995 TAG: 9506090651
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A12 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: STAFF AND WIRE REPORTS
DATELINE: CAMP LEJEUNE, N.C. LENGTH: Medium: 55 lines
Camp Lejeune Marines were exultant Thursday after a platoon of their comrades grabbed a downed Air Force pilot and flew him to safety in Bosnia.
One of their battalion commanders, Col. Martin R. Berndt, flew to the rescue site in one of the two CH-53 Sea Stallion helicopters that plucked Air Force Capt. Scott O'Grady from harm's way.
Berndt, recently selected for promotion to brigadier general, commands the 2,200-member 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit assigned to the Norfolk-based amphibious assault ship Kearsarge, transport dock Nashville and dock landing ship Pensacola.
The rescue mission was coordinated mainly from the deck of the Kearsarge.
The 24th Unit was part of the ill-fated peacekeeping mission in Lebanon in the early 1980s. They patrolled the Persian Gulf on ships during the Gulf War.
The unit delivered food, tents and medical supplies to Kurds under attack from Iraqi forces. They were part of the landing group in Somalia and went to Haiti last autumn to help restore order after the restoration of its elected president.
O'Grady was rescued using a procedure called TRAP, for Tactical Recovery of Aircraft Personnel. It was the first successful TRAP mission under combat conditions since Marines began training for it in 1985, said Col. Jan Huly, a former Marine Expeditionary Unit commander and now chief of staff of the 2nd Marine Expeditionary Force.
``It's a big deal for Camp Lejeune,'' said Huly, explaining that a previous Marine Expeditionary Unit on duty in the Adriatic tried to rescue an Italian pilot in 1992 near Sarajevo but couldn't locate him.
Participating in the rescue were 41 Marines from the 81 millimeter mortar platoon of Battalion Landing Team 3/8 under Lt. Col. C.J. Gunther.
The troops were heavily armed, said Huly. The team included at least 10 helicopters and their crews and two AV-8B Harrier fighter jets.
Berndt's wife, Diana, said the rescue came during her husband's last deployment with a Marine Expeditionary Unit before his latest promotion takes effect and he is transferred to another job in the Marine Corps.
``We don't understand a Marine's way of thinking,'' she said, ``but we accept it. You're a part of it. We can see that they do what they do really well.'' ILLUSTRATION: Photo
Col. Martin R. Berndt pulled O'Grady into the CH-53 Sea Stallion
helicopter.
KEYWORDS: RESCUE U.S. AIR FORCE BOSNIA U.S. NAVY
U.S. MARINE CORPS by CNB