THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, January 26, 1995 TAG: 9501260374
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ANNE SAITA, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: ELIZABETH CITY LENGTH: Long : 104 lines
Coast Guard rescue-swimmer Mike Odom was getting tired. Aching tired.
The constant pounding of 20-foot waves was taking a toll on his muscles despite the special wet suit designed to keep him warm.
He and his Coast Guard helicopter crewmates had just lifted three of five crewmen from their disabled sailboat 380 miles off the Georgia coast.
Ready to hoist another crewman in pitch-black darkness and howling winds, Odom signaled his crewmates again to send down a cable.
Instead, they dropped him a survival raft.
Odom did not know the hoist cable had broken, forcing the crew to abandon him in treacherous waters for almost five hours.
He climbed into the raft, was tossed into the seas a few times and lost consciousness. But on Wednesday morning, he returned to Air Station Elizabeth City to hugs and cheers from his colleagues.
``I just pretty much felt like I was left for dead until I started talking to the C-130 crews,'' Odom, 30, said shortly after an emotional reunion with about 75 of his fellow Coast Guard members.
When Odom stepped off the helicopter, he was handed a steaming mug of cocoa by Capt. Stan J. Walz, commanding officer at the Elizabeth City station.
Odom, a petty officer first class, also was warmed by the sight of his peers, all cheering andsome wiping tears, as he accepted numerous hugs.
``It was good to see the crowd out there. Good to see so many people out there. I hadn't expected that,'' he said later, still weak but looking well.
Earlier, Odom was treated for dehydration and hypothermia on the Ticonderoga, a Norfolk-based guided missile cruiser that was steaming about 150 miles from the rescue scene and assisted in the effort.
A Navy helicopter flew Odom from the ship to the Marine Corps Air Station in Cherry Point, N.C., where he was met by an Elizabeth City helicopter crew who flew him home at 11 a.m.
The ordeal began late Monday night, when five crewmen aboard the 42-foot sailing vessel Mirage sent out a ``Mayday.''
The engine had died on the St. Thomas-bound boat, which had taken down its sails and was being tossed around by huge swells and 40 mph winds.
The chopper, piloted by Lt. Jay Balda and co-pilot Lt. j.g. Guy Pearce, and a Coast Guard C-130 reached the scene about 1:10 a.m. Tuesday and Odom dropped into the water to help pluck the crewmen from swirling seas.
As the third man was being lifted in a hoist basket, the cable began to split, forcing the Coast Guard crew reluctantly to leave the rescue swimmer and the two remaining boaters behind.
That's when flight mechanic Mark Bafetti and Mario Vittone threw Odom a six-man raft and a radio beacon.
``He still doesn't know that the cable broke,'' Vittone said, choking back tears. ``And we had to drop him a raft instead. And that was hard.
``You know he's scared, but you've got to leave him anyway. . . I just didn't want to do it.''
Vittone, also a rescue-swimmer, is being honored today in Virginia Beach for his role in rescuing a family of four, including a 4-month-old boy, during Hurricane Gordon last fall.
After another helicopter from Elizabeth City arrived about 6:30 a.m. Tuesday, rescue-swimmer Jim Peterson jumped into the water to rescue Odom from the raft, which had drifted far from the sailboat, and a fourth crewman from the Mirage.
Odom was unconscious, and Peterson said he continually rubbed his chest and talked to him. ``When he reached up, I realized he was still alive,'' Peterson said.
The four rescued crewmen from the sailboat were taken to a hospital in Wilmington. The boat's master declined to leave the chartered vessel as the weather settled, and planned to sail to St. Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands.
The Mirage, because of mechanical problems, had been unable to reach Odom while he was adrift in the raft, explained Lt. Mark Russell, a C-130 pilot and among those Odom credited with helping save his life.
The C-130 crew shut down two of the plane's four engines to conserve fuel and remained on the scene until the rescue mission was completed.
``They were nonstop on the radio, reassuring me,'' said Odom, who became so cold - his body temperature had dropped to 92.5 degrees from a normal 98.6 - and seasick that he eventually was too weak to lift a radio to his mouth and lost consciousness.
Rescue-swimmers have been left in the water before, Coast Guard officials said, but never for as long.
``It's always been close to shore and in less violent weather,'' said Lt. Cmdr. Bruce Jones, who piloted the second helicopter with Lt. j.g. Dan Molthen. ``It couldn't have happened in a worse place.''
Lt. Matt Reid, the on-scene coordinator, and other Coast Guard officials in Elizabeth City were unaware a Navy ship was near, said Lt. Dan Taylor, the public affairs officer.
The rescue mission was coordinated by 7th District Coast Guard officials in Miami who believed several nearby Navy ships, including the Ticonderoga, were too far away to rescue Odom.
``This is a case that certainly pressed us to the limits,'' Capt. Walz said.
``It'll be in my mind forever,'' Odom said. ``It's something I'm never going to forget.'' ILLUSTRATION: ASSOCIATED PRESS
Coast Guard rescue-swimmer Mike Odom, 30, is embraced by his
commanding officer, Capt. Stan J. Walz, at the Elizabeth City Coast
Guard Air Station Wednesday.
KEYWORDS: RESCUE COAST GUARD by CNB