THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, March 5, 1996 TAG: 9603050174
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY PAUL NOWELL, ASSOCIATED PRESS
LENGTH: Medium: 93 lines
Thanks to the tenacity of a plucky schoolgirl and a U.S. Coast Guard commander, seven black men will receive long overdue recognition for a daring rescue off North Carolina's Outer Banks in 1896.
At a ceremony this morning at the Navy Memorial in Washington, D.C., the Coast Guard will posthumously present the Gold Lifesaving Medal to Richard Etheridge and his crew of six for saving nine lives during a hurricane.
The century-late honor is the result of the unplanned collaboration by two unlikely allies - Kate Burkart, 15, a white student from Washington, N.C., and Stephen Rochon, a black Coast Guard commander stationed in Baltimore.
``I knew one day this would happen,'' Rochon said in a telephone interview Monday. ``I did not know when, but I've seen too many experiences like this pay off. Just when was the issue.''
Burkart was traveling Monday and could not be reached for comment.
She was an eighth-grader at P.S. Jones Middle School in Washington, N.C., when she first learned about the Pea Island Station of the U.S. Life Saving Service, the forerunner of the Coast Guard.
Burkart, who now attends Salem Academy in Winston-Salem, became particularly interested in the period from 1880 to World War II, when Pea Island had the nation's only all-black lifesaving crew. Etheridge, a free black who grew up on Roanoke Island, and his crew of six participated in a number of dangerous rescues.
The most famous one occurred on Oct. 11, 1896, when Etheridge and his crew - lashed together with ropes - swam into the ocean during a hurricane to save nine people aboard the sinking E.S. Newman.
``For their heroic efforts the Pea Island crew was given no commemoration whatsoever,'' Burkart wrote in her essay for a history class last year. ``However, the captain of the E.S. Newman, S.A. Gardiner, combed the beach until he found the plank that bore the ship's name. He then presented it to the Pea Island crew for saving him, his crew, and most importantly, his family.
``When I found out they had not received any commemoration for their heroic rescue of the E.S. Newman, I immediately felt I had to do something about it.''
She did so, writing letters to President Clinton and U.S. Sen. Jesse Helms, R-N.C. Little did she know at the time that Rochon had been working for the same goal for several years.
``This was one of many rescues they never got recognition for,'' said Rochon. ``Other white crews got gold and silver medals for less daring rescues.''
He blamed the problem on the times.
``This was the post-Reconstruction South with Jim Crow laws,'' he said.
Rochon said Etheridge was a local legend.
``He was a stickler on training,'' he said. ``Theodore Meekins was his strongest swimmer. His grandson, who is a Coast Guard helicopter pilot, is going to be at the ceremony.''
Rochon said he was becoming frustrated with his efforts to win posthumous recognition for the black surfmen. Then he heard that two students at Virginia Commonwealth University were conducting research on the Pea Island station.
He began to build his case with those materials when Helms' office asked for an official inquiry after receiving several letters from Burkart. ``It was our window of opportunity,'' Rochon said.
``One night I was sitting down reading Etheridge's log from the night of the hurricane,'' he said. ``I thought, who is this little wonderful caucasian who developed such an interest in an all-black lifesaving team?''
On a whim, he decided to call her.
``First I talked with her mom,'' he said. ``Then we started trading letters and phone calls.''
Over the past year, they've become close friends. Along the way, they've met some of the surfmen's descendants.
``We've had some folks crying on the phone,'' Rochon said. ``A bunch of carloads of people from Norfolk, Va., and Winston-Salem and New Jersey and New York are coming down for the award ceremony.''
It will be the first face-to-face meeting between the black Coast Guard commander and the white schoolgirl.
``The first thing I plan to do is give her a big hug,'' said Rochon. ILLUSTRATION: ASSOCIATED PRESS
Kate Burkart's interest in the Pea Island Lifesaving Station from
1880 to WWII set the ball rolling for its crew's recognition.
RESCUE DURING HURRICANE
Richard Etheridge and his crew of six, the nation's only all-black
lifesaving crew, saved nine lives during a hurricane on Oct. 11,
1896.
The Pea Island lifesavers - lashed together with ropes - swam into
the hurricane-whipped ocean to save nine people aboard the sinking
E.S. Newman.
by CNB