Category: This great Nation & Its People
When I first became involved with the U.S. Army’s High Altitude Rescue Team (HART) back in the 1990s, there was a steep learning curve. The mission was to retrieve injured climbers from Mount McKinley and support the National Park Service (NPS) in their mountain operations. At 20,310 feet, Mt. McKinley is the highest point in North America. They call it Denali now. This was quite an unnatural space for a helicopter.
The National Park Service owned the mountain, and they had a contracted civilian helicopter that was based in Talkeetna, Alaska, during the climbing season. This single-engine French Aerospatiale Lama was stripped down to its bare essentials to give it maximum performance at extreme altitudes. When first I crawled aboard this aircraft, I noticed that the copilot’s seat and flight controls had been removed. Needless to say, I was impressed by the bravery required to be a pilot of this helicopter.
For routine trips up the mountain, if ever that was a real thing, the NPS used the Lama. For those times when the Lama was broken, or a bit more horsepower was required, they called us. I can honestly say that flying a helicopter over the top of Mount McKinley was the most extraordinary thing I did as a U.S. Army Aviator.
The Aircraft
For the HART mission, we utilized otherwise unremarkable Boeing CH-47D heavy-lift helicopters. We gutted our Chinooks of any unnecessary kit and fitted them with auxiliary internal fuel tanks and an onboard oxygen system for the crew due to the altitudes in which we would be flying. This labyrinthine thing included plumbing that ran oxygen lines to each crew station to support the flight crew while operating these unpressurized aircraft at extreme altitudes. Our crewmembers also had walkaround bottles that would keep them conscious while moving about the cargo compartment.
The max gross weight for a CH-47D is 50,000 pounds. Its twin Lycoming turboshaft engines put out an aggregate 9,000 shaft horsepower. It is an immensely powerful machine. However, at 21,000 feet the Chinook becomes a big fat pig. Great care had to be taken to plan maneuvers well in advance when the air was that thin. Those sorts of altitudes are terribly unforgiving. However, thusly configured the big Chinook would reliably get us there and back.
The Mission
Denali is actually the tallest mountain on earth, as measured from the base to the summit, even taller than Everest. While the peak of Everest is higher, you don’t have to climb as far to get there. Each year about 1,200 climbers attempt the ascent. Roughly half of them make it. Folks die on that rock all the time. There have been 96 fatalities on the mountain since the first successful ascent in 1913.
The NPS maintains a presence at both the high and low base camps on Denali throughout the approximate three-month climbing season. The low base camp is at 7,200 feet on the Kahiltna glacier. The high base camp is at 14,200 feet.
At the beginning of the climbing season, the HART team is responsible for emplacing the equipment to support these base camps. This consists of tents, food, fuel, radios and the sundry stuff required to keep people alive in such an austere environment. The HART team also retrieves everything at the end. These Army Chinooks also cover the gaps that the small civilian helicopter cannot.
Denali makes its own weather. As many a tourist has discovered to their disappointment, oftentimes the mountain is socked in while the rest of the surrounding area is clear and pretty. As the CH-47 is fully instrument capable, it can sometimes reach the mountain when the Lama cannot. The Chinook is also equipped with a rescue hoist that offers capabilities not available to the smaller machine. In 1988, the HART team set the world record for a helicopter hoist rescue at 18,200 feet. In 1995, the HART team performed a live rescue at 19,600 feet, setting a record for the CH-47 airframe.
War Story
On 3 June 1996, we were on a training mission to get our aircrews qualified for the climbing season. We always ascended the mountain in pairs. The weather had been sketchy and getting to high altitudes had been a challenge.
Two days before, a Spanish climber named Juanjo Garra lost a crampon and fell at the 18,000-foot level at Denali Pass, breaking his leg. At these sorts of altitudes, this is a catastrophic injury. NPS rescue personnel laboriously carried the man to the 14,000-foot base camp, but by then, he was in dire straits.
As we shot a careful approach into the high base camp, we knew nothing of Mr. Garra or his injury. Once we touched down, an Air Force pararescueman who was climbing the mountain as part of a training exercise flashed us with a signal mirror. He explained that Garra had to be removed from the mountain or he could die.
The formal approval process for rescue support was laborious. Each live mission had to be approved by the first General Officer in the chain of command. However, they claimed we Army officers were supposed to show initiative. Mr. Garra was soon strapped in alongside his climbing partner, a Spanish cardiologist. Incidentally, I think that was the closest I have ever come to being kissed by a man. That guy was pretty stoked to be getting off that mountain.
We flew the two Spaniards to the low base camp where they were loaded onboard a ski-equipped airplane for the trip to the Anchorage hospital. I flew home that afternoon assuming I had done a good thing. My boss felt otherwise.
Once we got the aircraft shut down I was dragged into my commander’s office for a proper butt chewing. My on-the-spot decision had completely circumvented the chain of command. I had allowed two foreign nationals onboard a U.S. Army aircraft without proper authorization. The liability had been astronomical. What if the aircraft had crashed? What if there had been an in-flight emergency? What if, what if, what if…
While I was getting reamed out, the phone rang. It was the U.S. Coast Guard congratulating us for the rescue. They wanted the names of the crew for the press release. My boss hung up the phone and sighed. He reluctantly congratulated me for saving a man’s life but then directed me never to do it again.
It has been 27 years since that weird afternoon on Mt. McKinley. I left the Army soon thereafter and went to medical school. Along the way I bought a laptop and tried my hand at writing. Until I was researching this article I had never known Juanjo Garra’s name. I sincerely hope he is well.
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A side note from Grumpy
MAY 2013 Spanish mountaineer Juanjo Garra has died on Dhaulagiri (8167m).
Navy SEAL Michael Monsoor was awarded the Medal of Honor for actions in Iraq in 2006. He is one of seven Navy SEAL Medal of Honor recipients in history. Wikimedia Commons photo.
The United States Congress established the Medal of Honor during the early months of the American Civil War. The award’s first recipients were a group of six Union Army soldiers who earned it for carrying out a daring mission to sabotage a strategic Confederate rail line deep in enemy territory.
As the story goes, the so-called “Great Locomotive Chase” began on April 12, 1862, when a detachment of Union Army soldiers disguised in plain clothes boarded a passenger locomotive in Marietta, Georgia. Accompanied by a pair of civilian spies, including their leader, James Andrews, the men settled themselves at the rear of the train as it moved out of the station and headed north toward Tennessee.
All 20 members of the detachment who boarded the train (there were four others who didn’t make it) were volunteers. Their mission was to destroy as many bridges as possible along the Western and Atlantic Railroad — a vital Confederate supply line connecting Atlanta with Chattanooga.
Union spy James Andrews and his handpicked team of saboteurs race toward Chattanooga aboard the stolen engine The General in modern artist Bradley Schmehl’s painting of the Great Locomotive Chase. Photo courtesy of artist Bradley Schmehl (www.bradleyschmehl.com).
Shortly after leaving Marietta, the train, called The General, eased to a stop in the town of Big Shanty. Around dawn, the conductor and most of his crew and passengers disembarked and headed to a nearby hotel for breakfast. Meanwhile, Andrews and his men, having exited on the opposite side of the train, disconnected the cab from the passenger cars and drove it out of the station.
The saboteurs made periodic stops as they chugged along toward Chattanooga, using tools they had stolen from some railroad repairmen to tear up rail lines, cut telegraph wires, and litter the tracks with railroad ties to obstruct the rebel troops pursuing them. Yet they didn’t manage to burn any bridges, as the task proved too time consuming to carry out without risking capture.
The General finally ran out of steam just south of Chattanooga. At that point, Andrews and his men abandoned the train and made a run for it. They were captured by Confederate soldiers several days later and sent before a judge on charges of “unlawful belligerency.”
All the men were convicted. Eight of them, including Andrews, were executed by hanging. The rest either managed to escape or became prisoners of war.
Heroism and Sacrifice
Tech Sgt. John Chapman was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions while serving as an Air Force Combat Controller in Afghanistan on March 4, 2002. Wikimedia Commons photo.
On March 25, 1863, six members of the detachment who had managed to make it back to the North appeared in Washington, DC, to become the first-ever recipients of the Medal of Honor. Years later, 13 of their comrades were also awarded the medal, bringing the total number of “Andrew’s Raiders” to earn the nation’s highest military honor to 19.
Since then, the number of Medal of Honor recipients has grown into the thousands, and yet the award retains its prestige. It is the US military’s highest decoration — intended to recognize “conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of life above and beyond the call of duty” — and the only one that must be personally approved by the president. In fact, living recipients are usually first notified that they will receive the reward in a phone call from the Commander in Chief himself.
In 1990, the United States Congress officially designated March 25 as National Medal of Honor Day. The federal holiday commemorates the “heroism and sacrifice of Medal of Honor recipients.” Congress chose March 25 because it marks the anniversary of the first medals being awarded.
Medal of Honor Recipients by Branch
A painting of US Coast Guard personnel evacuating US Marines from near Point Cruz on Guadalcanal under fire during the Second Battle of the Matanikau on Sept. 27, 1942. Douglas Munro is the only US coast guardsman to be awarded the Medal of Honor. Wikimedia Commons photo.
To date, according to the National Medal of Honor Museum database, approximately 3,516 individuals have earned the medal. 19 have earned it twice. The pantheon of recipients includes members of every US military branch except for Space Force.
The US Army, Navy, and Marine Corps account for the majority of Medal of Honor recipients. The Army boasts more than 2,400; the Navy, 749; and the Marines, 300. Nineteen airmen have received the award since the US Air Force became its own branch in 1947. The Coast Guard, which doesn’t typically participate in combat operations, has produced just one recipient: Signalman 1st Class Douglas Munro, who was awarded the Medal of Honor for actions during World War II.
Fascinating Trivia About the Medal of Honor
Medal of Honor recipients Navy SEAL Michael Thornton and Navy SEAL Tommy Norris at the American Academy of Achievement’s 2001 Banquet of the Golden Plate ceremonies in San Antonio, Texas. Photo courtesy of the Academy of Achievement.
- Medal of Honor recipient Pvt. Adam Paine was shot and killed by fellow Medal of Honor recipient Capt. Claron Windus. Paine had become an outlaw after the Civil War. Windus, a lawman, killed Paine while trying to arrest him.
- Three Medal of Honor recipients are credited with saving the life of another Medal of Honor recipient. Perhaps the most famous is Navy SEAL Mike Thornton, who earned the medal in Vietnam when he rescued Medal of Honor recipient Tommy Norris while their small commando team was engaged in an intense battle with a much larger enemy force.
- The list of Medal of Honor recipients includes four unidentified American service members. They lay buried at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and its three adjoining crypts at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia. Together, they are intended to represent “the soul of America and the supreme sacrifice of her heroic dead” in World War I, World War II, Korea, and Vietnam.
- The list also includes five unidentified soldiers from France, Belgium, Italy, Romania, and Great Britain who all died fighting for the Allies in World War I and are buried overseas.
- 120 soldiers earned the Medal of Honor in the Civil War Battle of Vicksburg, 96 of them in the same day. It is believed that the battle accounts for the most Medals of Honor earned in a single engagement.
- In 2001, Theodore Roosevelt was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions in the Battle of Kettle Hill during the Spanish-American War. He is the only US president to ever receive the medal.
The Story of the Youngest Medal of Honor Recipient
William “Willie” Johnston is the youngest Medal of Honor recipient in US military history. Wikimedia Commons photo.
The youngest person to earn the Medal of Honor was an 11-year-old drummer boy named William “Willie” Johnston. In 1861, Johnston’s father enlisted in the US Army in Vermont. Johnston followed suit and was assigned to D Company of the 3rd Vermont Volunteer Infantry Regiment.
Johnston was issued a uniform and a drum. During the Civil War, drummers, who were typically adolescent boys, provided “drum calls” to signal actional commands. The loud beats of the drum were easier to hear over the sound of cannon and gunfire than the shouts of a commanding officer.
Johnston accompanied his unit to Virginia. He participated in a series of skirmishes fought between June 25 and July 1, 1862, called the Seven Days Battles.
When the Union Army was forced to retreat following its failed attempt to capture Richmond, many of its musicians abandoned their instruments to make a faster escape. But not Willie. In fact, he was the only drummer in his division to return to friendly lines with his instrument.
Upon learning of Johnston’s story, President Abraham Lincoln was so impressed by the drummer boy’s courage that he recommended him for the Medal of Honor. In 1863, at age 13, Willie received the medal.
The Only Female Medal of Honor Recipient
Mary Edwards Walker volunteered to treat Union soldiers wounded on the frontlines of Civil War battles. Photo courtesy of the National Archives.
In the 1850s, Mary Edwards Walker was one of just two practicing female physicians in the entire United States. When the Civil War began, she volunteered to put her medical skills to work for the Union Army and was contracted as a field surgeon. She would be the only woman to serve in that role during the war, while as many as 10,000 women served as nurses.
In 1863, Maj. Gen. George H. Thomas appointed Walker as the assistant surgeon for the 52nd Ohio Volunteer Infantry and she joined the unit in Tennessee. While traveling to Georgia, she was captured by Confederate soldiers and accused of being a spy. She spent four months as a prisoner of war before being released back to her unit.
Since she worked in contract positions during the war, she wasn’t officially a US military member. Still, Major Generals William Tecumseh Sherman and George Thomas deemed her contributions to the war effort worthy of the Medal of Honor and recommended her for the award. She received the medal in 1866.
- The U.S. government gives more foreign aid than all other countries in the world combined.
- U.S. corporations and citizens make more charitable donations than the rest of the world combined. Donations are the highest both in aggregate and per-capita.
- Americans corrected it’s biggest historical sin, slavery, by fighting a war that cost a half million soldiers their lives. It has continually tried to make up for that mistake since then with affirmative action, civil rights laws, race-based college grants, and more.
- The U.S. saved the world from Nazi Germany, the Soviet Union, and many other totalitarian regimes.
- America spent billions as part of the Marshall Plan, which transformed a continent ravaged from World War II into thriving, stable European nations.
- A person living in poverty in America has a standard of living that would be considered wealthy in most countries of the world. Most Americans living below the poverty level are well-fed and have cars, TVs, clothing, a roof over their heads, healthcare, and many other items that would be considered luxuries in 3rd World countries.
- No country in the world has as much race and cultural diversity. Nowhere else do you find whites, blacks, Hispanics, Asians, native Americans, etc. living together in such percentages. We truly are the “melting pot” of the world.
- No country in the world is as tolerant of religious and non-religious beliefs. Christians, Muslims, Jews, Hindi, Dowists, atheists, agnostics, Satanists, and so on all live together in harmony. No one is prosecuted for their religious or non-religious beliefs.
- No nation takes in more immigrants, both legal and illegal.
- America spends more on education that any country on Earth, which is supplemented by an endless supply of free or low-cost educational opportunities such as Youtube, Khan Academy, and public libraries. And thanks to the internet, much of this education is available to the world.
- The American government takes care of it’s poorest citizens with an endless array of benefits–welfare, food stamps, Medicaid & Medicare, job training, college grants, tax credits, and so on.
- Along with the British, the United States put together a system of government that has become the standard in free democracies around the world.
- America laws and its litigation system prevent discrimination based on race, gender, age, religion, disability, and sexual orientation.
- The U.S. has by far the largest annual trade deficit, meaning we export more wealth than any other country.
- America has true freedom of speech and press, which means we can expose wrongs, debate courses of actions, and allow the best ideas to win out over the worst ones over time.
- We have the strongest military by far, yet rather than use that power to take over countries, we use it to preserve world peace and stability.
- America has an unmatched set of entertainment options–movies, Netflix, video games, TV, sports, plays, beaches, fitness clubs, music streaming, social media, art galleries, festivals, concerts, and on and on.
- Americans have greater access to the Internet & cell phones than any country in the world.
- The U.S. has a free market system that has led to the world’s highest per-capita income and standard of living. Anyone can start a business and go from rags-to-riches.
- The U.S. has the strongest, most reliable system of public utilities–electricity, water, sewer, etc.
- Most world-changing technologies–such as the Internet, personal computer, automobile, smart phones, and Google search engine–were developed in America.
- The U.S. has among the best systems of roads, bridges, and other infrastructure.
- Although still too expensive, healthy care accessibility to top physicians, medications, surgeries, technology, and other modern medicine is second to none.
- Most of the greatest medical discoveries and life-changing pharmaceuticals have come from American companies.
- The U.S. has a very stable system of police & courts to protect us while preserving our liberties.
- American’s space exploration and contribution to the knowledge of the universe is second to none.
- Our checks’n’balances system of government prevents tyranny and ensures smooth transitions of power.
- American farmers produce more food than any country on Earth.
- No country has as safe and plentiful of quality drinking water.
- Some of the richest Americans, such as Bill Gates and Warren Buffett, have built charities to solve the world’s greatest problems.
- The. U.S. is now the world’s largest energy producer.
- The American dollar is the most stable currency, which is critical to the world economy.
- Through Manifest Destiny, America has spread freedom around the world throughout the past few centuries. Every country in the world that has followed the American/British system of government and free market capitalism enjoys prosperity, while third-world countries have been born from socialism, communism, and dictatorships.
- No matter what sin or mistake America has made in the past, we have a system in place to correct those wrongs and constantly improve. American citizens do our best to help the world, despite the fact the actions of our leaders don’t always reflect that.
- No matter what the circumstances in life, a person in America has more opportunities than any other to become wealthy, change the world, and achieve greatness.
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