THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, November 3, 1996 TAG: 9611030034
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY DENISE WATSON, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: 78 lines
Navy diver 1st Class Hodgie Holgersen has been on heavy dives before.
It's one of his jobs to retrieve wreckage and bodies when military helicopters or F-14s go down.
But for the past three months, he's salvaged children's clothing, purses and photos from the debris areas of TWA Flight 800, which exploded off the coast of New York in July. It's been a chilling assignment for the Virginia Beach man.
``When you have to pick up short pants, this big,'' Holgersen said, holding up his hands about 12 inches apart, ``and you see passports, and see that someone's birthday is next month and they're going to be 18 years old, that's what makes it different.''
Holgersen and the crew of the salvage and rescue ship Grapple returned to Little Creek Naval Amphibious Base on Saturday after 97 days off the coast of Long Island, N.Y.
The Grapple left Norfolk on July 28, 11 days after the Paris-bound plane exploded, killing all 230 people aboard. The crew joined divers from other agencies, including the New York state and city police, in the continuing search. The salvage and rescue ship Grasp, a sister ship of the Grapple, helped in the recovery but returned to Norfolk in late August.
About 95 percent of the plane and 214 bodies have been recovered. Officials still don't know what caused the explosion.
Holgersen was one of 225 Navy divers searching in water 120 feet deep, , scouring hundreds of square miles withhand-held sonar, metal detectors and rakes. Except in bad weather, divers alternated 12-hour shifts every day. Normal visibility ranged from 12 to 15 feet on good days but dropped to zero during heavy weather.
Holgersen was one of many of the crew to get the ``bends,'' decompression sickness, after a dive.
``There was someone in the (decompression) chamber often. . . . We had to bring a third (one) on board,'' Holgersen said. ``It was very demanding. I felt like I've aged a few years.''
And when divers weren't in the water, they were still thinking about their job.
``It's different with military wreckage. You're dealing with people who know what the stakes are, and they get paid for taking the risk,'' Holgersen said.
``Not that one person is more valuable than another, but there's a difference between being a victim and a casualty of risk.
``We talked about this a lot, what (people on Flight 800) were thinking before the plane went down. They were just about to settle down and read a book or thinking about their vacation.''
Before the Grapple pulled into the pier, dozens of friends and family members lined the pier clutching red roses, American flags and balloons close as they tried unsuccessfully to stay warm and dry in the cold rain.
``I just hope this water is turned off pretty soon,'' said 8-year-old Michael Frank, waiting for his father, a boatswain's mate who is a chief petty officer on the Grapple.
This homecoming was particularly special for some; the Grapple had been called to duty with little notice, and family members weren't sure when the crew would return.
Said Tina Frank, watching the shop dock: ``I think we'll just chain our husbands to the house.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color photo
GARY C. KNAPP
Jennifer Swain of Virginia Beach, left, and daughter Nichole, 11,
and son Tyler, 4, braved the cold, wet weather for over an hour
before being allowed to board the Grapple.
Photo
GARY C. KNAPP
The families that came to meet the salvage ship Grapple waited in
cold rain and temperatures hovering around 44 degrees. After 97
days, the Grapple and its crew returned from salvaging the wreckage
of TWA Flight 800, after helping locate 95 percent of the plane.
KEYWORDS: HOMECOMINGS by CNB