Photo By Sgt. 1st Class Ryan Sheldon | U.S. Army Chief Warrant Officer 5 Joseph Rosamond reflects on a Sept. 5, 2020, rescue...... read more read more
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FRESNO, Calif. – FRESNO, Calif. — The day after executing a daring helicopter rescue mission, U.S. Army Chief Warrant Officer 5 Joseph Rosamond sat in a room, flanked by fellow California Army National Guard aviators who were on the mission with him, awaiting questions from national and international media.
To his right was Chief Warrant Officer 5 Kipp Goding, another hero pilot of the Sept. 5-6, 2020 rescue in Fresno County’s Creek Fire. The pair has been friends for a long time, but recently they’ve been a little inseparable. As Rosamond answers questions about that heroic day, Goding is nearby, ready to respond. It hasn’t only been media asking questions about the rescue, it’s been family, old and new friends, and other Cal Guardsmen who want to hear their story.
But this day there’s a Zoom media round table set up by the National Guard Bureau. Nearly two dozen news agencies are logged in; all seven Cal Guardsmen involved in the mission patiently sit and await the barrage of questions.
Again, the room quieted as Rosamond pulled off his mask to speak.
“There was a question earlier about how we felt during the mission,” he says. “I can speak for myself. It was very emotional.”
He recounted the memories of that late-night mission. Through night vision goggles he saw people stranded below his hovering CH-47 Chinook. There was blackened smoke and intense fire. There were injured people. There was radio communication to potentially abort the mission. It was a harrowing moment, but Rosamond and his crew persisted forward. Rosamond, the pilot in command, and assistant pilot Chief Warrant Officer 2 Brady Hlebain, were determined to bring their “bird” into the fray to get those people out.
Slowly, Rosamond explained that moment:
“Oh, it was emotional, especially when I looked (behind me) and saw children,” said Rosamond, pausing to catch himself. “Children who are the same age as my children. It felt really good to get all of them out.”
“Along with what Mr. Rosamond was saying, this was easily the most difficult mission I’ve ever been a part of,” said Sgt. Cameron Powell, the flight engineer who, along with Sgt. George Esquivel, loaded their aircraft first with those injured, then women and children, and then the elderly. When they came back on another run, they boarded even more people than the first mission.
“There were a lot of women and children we put on board,” Powell added. “All of us have families. We tried the best we can, with our families in mind. We wanted to get the families safe, and get them back to their own families.”
The Creek Fire, one of California’s largest blazes this year, ignited Sept. 4 in the Sierra National Forest and adjacent areas. In one day, it consumed 45,000 acres. In two days, it nearly doubled, ravaging 81,000 acres. The fire moved so fast it trapped hikers, campers and residents at Mammoth Pool Campground.
“Just to get to (the helicopter landing zone) was stressful enough. But getting there and not knowing if we’re going to be saved, especially with other families with children. People were crying,” Fresno resident Wendy Reamer, one of the evacuees, said in the Fresno Flight Facility while she was being medically screened. “But then we saw that military helicopter and at first we weren’t sure it’ll come in. But then, oh my God, he landed.”
Reamer cried. She paused. She got her breath back and wiped her eyes.
“They came for us,” she wept. “They came for us.”
Goding maneuvered his UH-60 Black Hawk through the intense smoke and landed to pick up more than a dozen people, putting the helicopter at maximum capacity because of the weight from the people aboard, he explained after mission. He did this for three missions. He recalled missions in Iraq and Afghanistan, and stated how this did not compare to anything he’s experienced.
“When you’re over there and they shoot at you, that’s it. Bullets fly by and you just keep going,” he said. “This was worse than combat. It was brutal. Just Armageddon. Just brutal, brutal.”
Goding and Chief Warrant Officer 2 Irvin Hernandez piloted the Black Hawk. Warrant Officer Ge Xiong was in the back as the crew chief. They reflected on how things happened and agreed: This was more than just a rescue mission.
“For the crew, I think we’re all in consensus that the biggest thing we got out of it was seeing the relief of people we helped get out,” said Hernandez. “There was panic in their eyes when they got on the aircraft. Them not knowing if we’re coming back the first or second time around. The relief they showed, the gratitude they showed once we got here (to the Cal Guard Fresno Aviation Facility). We had a female with a 5-month old baby. She thanked us, and I can see the relief and gratitude in her eyes. That’s the biggest thing I took away from it.”
“It was really emotional, very emotional,” Xiong replied. “I had hands-on with the rescuees. Just seeing their faces and emotions, their tears of joy, tears of fear, and then the gratitude. I received a lot of hugs and thank yous. It makes it all worth it for me to perform my duties.”
Goding spoke of his determination to succeed, citing he’s from Fresno and the people he rescued could have been those he sees regularly in the community.
“It’s our training area. We fly out here a few times a week. This is local community for us,” said the veteran pilot. “Here’s our friends, neighbors, people we go to church with. It’s our backyard. So it’s more than just a California thing. It’s definitely local.”
Fire surrounded Mammoth Pool Campground to where, during the rescue, burning embers were landing on people. Per Reamer, some took shelter in the lake as they waited for helicopters.
“You can see the need in their eyes when they come to the aircraft,” Goding explained. “Wide-eyed, and then as soon as they get on the aircraft they feel like ‘I made it.’ This is going to take me somewhere that’s better than here.”
It took less than 30 minutes to fly from Mammoth Pool Campground to the aviation site, where Emergency Medical Services, Fresno law enforcement agencies and Cal Guardsmen — such as medical technicians and administrators — provided assistance. For nearly 10 hours both aircraft were flying back forth, bringing people out of danger to safety.
“If it was a longer flight, I’m sure they’d all fall asleep because of the release of all that anguish and tension,” Goding added. “We noticed it, when they’re getting on how wide-eyed they are, and when they’re getting off it’s like Christmas Day.”
After the media conference, Esquivel and Powell work their way back to their Chinook. They still can’t believe, during one attempt, they fit more than 100 people onto their helicopter. Space was so tight, the crew didn’t close the back ramp. They safely secured it to where people could sit on the ramp as they flew to safety.
“Comfortably, 30 to 32,” said Esquivel, when asked what’s the normal amount of people to fit on their aircraft. “But man, we just didn’t want to leave anybody. Especially the women and children. We wanted everyone to get out of there.”
“We were telling people, ‘We’ll be back, we’ll be back.’ Still some of them were worried. You can see it in their eyes,” Powell said. “And when we came back it was just the greatest thing. They thanked us, they were very grateful. You can’t describe how that felt for all of us.”
During that September night to early morning, Cal Guardsmen rescued 242 people. Word of the crucial mission spread to the extent that President Donald Trump became aware of it. On Sept. 14, 2020, he flew to Sacramento to personally award the seven Cal Guard aviators with the Distinguished Flying Cross, an honor bestowed for “heroism or extraordinary achievement while participating in an aerial flight.”
“Nobody here did what we did to gain fame or win awards or be on national TV,” Rosamond concluded. “That’s far from our minds. We did it because it’s what we’re trained to do. But in the end, it’s just people helping people. Those were our brothers and sisters up there. Kipp would say the same thing. We just had to do it. Just because.”
| Date Taken: | 09.16.2020 |
| Date Posted: | 09.29.2020 17:38 |
| Story ID: | 379441 |
| Location: | FRESNO, US |
| Web Views: | 596 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
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