Photo By Petty Officer 1st Class Chase Stephens | 201218-N-SS370-1001 SANTA RITA, GUAM (Dec. 18, 2020) Hospital Corpsman 1st Class...... read more read more
SANTA RITA, Guam (Dec. 18, 2020) – Hospital Corpsman 1st Class Josephus G. Alleyne, assigned to the submarine tender USS Frank Cable (AS 40), was awarded the Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal, Dec. 18, 2020, for his actions while responding to a vehicle accident.
Alleyne and Chief Quartermaster Ken Mabon, assigned to Maritime Expeditionary Security One Detachment, were the first responders to a traffic accident that occurred at approximately 6:30 p.m. Dec. 9, 2020, in Agat, Guam.
Alleyne said that on his way home from work, he saw a dented pole and smoke coming from the jungle. He pulled over and went through the bushes to find a car in a ditch along with Mabon already at the scene.
“All I could see at the time was an upper torso,” said Alleyne. “The car was in a ditch and the only other person there was Chief Mabon.”
Alleyne took over as the scene leader and they began breaking down the door to get a better look at the injured driver’s condition.
According to Alleyne, he could tell the driver had a broken femur and that he was losing a lot of blood. They opted not to remove the driver from the vehicle due to the severity of the victim’s injuries.
The two Sailors applied a tourniquet to his wounded leg and then immobilized it as much as possible to prevent any further damage. They stabilized the patient and waited for emergency personnel to arrive.
According to Alleyne, nearby civilians were telling them to get the driver out. The Sailors knew those actions could result in permanent damage to the spine, and that it would be better to wait for Guam Fire Department (GFD) to arrive and extract the driver with proper equipment.
Members of GFD arrived on scene and Alleyne relayed all the information he had to emergency responders and transferred command of the scene to them.
“While most of us are just focused on getting home after a full day of work and unwinding, Doc actually saved a life,” said Capt. Albert A. Alarcon, commanding officer of Frank Cable. “That just exemplifies what an everyday hero is.”
After graduating from high school, Alleyne joined the Navy because he felt it would be an appropriate next step in his life, and that it was following the footsteps of some of his close friends whom had also joined.
“I’ve served for 18 years,” said Alleyne. “I wanted to be a corpsman because it is the most challenging and rewarding rate there is: to save lives. So I work hard every day to ensure that I am worthy of the honor and the respect for my rate. At the end of the day, I feel like this is something every Sailor with a good moral compass, sense of leadership, understanding of duty, and devotion to service would have done.”
| Date Taken: | 12.18.2020 |
| Date Posted: | 01.12.2021 01:45 |
| Story ID: | 386746 |
| Location: | GU |
| Web Views: | 246 |
| Downloads: | 3 |
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