Photo By Kelly Morris | Chief Warrant Officer 3 Marty L. Holland II, a UH-60 Black Hawk instructor pilot,...... read more read more
FORT NOVOSEL, Ala. — Tim Clemmons may be the only person at Lowe Army Heliport that doesn’t remember the events of April 26, 2024—the day he experienced a medical emergency while working as airfield avionics lead contractor.
But the day would be hard to forget for Chief Warrant Officer 3 Marty L. Holland II, an instructor pilot with Company A, 1st Battalion, 212th Aviation Regiment, and flight school students 1st Lt. Christopher Berggren and 2nd Lt. Thomas Taylor who, immediately after a check ride, were first on the scene to help save Clemmons’ life.
Holland recalled the series of unusual events that day.
For starters, earlier that day a contractor on the flight line out of the blue approached Holland with something in his hand.
“I think you’re going to need a little Jesus today,” the contractor said, as he handed Holland a tiny figurine.
“I literally looked at these two (students), and I was like, what do I not know about what’s going on today?” Holland said.
After the flight, an electronic logbook that had plenty of battery oddly crashed and reset a 30-minute timeline--something that had never happened to Holland before--and caused a delay.
When the bus picked up Holland and the students on the flightline, the driver took a “wrong turn” and went to a different area of the airfield.
But that wrong turn put Holland and his students in the vicinity of Clemmons, a contractor they had never met, who lay unconscious on the ground.
“A lot of things put us in that place at that time,” said Holland.
Holland also noted that Berggren, a student assigned to him that day, happened to be an EMT.
Holland said when they saw the man from a distance, it looked like he had fallen out of a Kubota cart. He thought maybe he had hit his head and been knocked unconscious.
“The bus driver shot us over there really quick,” Holland said. “We took off running.”
Seeing the man up close, they realized the situation was far more dire: his eyes were glazed over, and his skin was a gray color.
“I literally looked up at Chris, and I said, ‘He’s gone.’ There’s no coming back from what I saw,” Holland said.
Nevertheless, he and Berggren immediately went into action to try to resuscitate him, as Taylor called 911.
“The training kicked in—Airway, Bleeding, Circulation—so immediately I moved to doing airway, and told Chris to start pumping,” said Holland, referring to Berggren.
“I was like, ‘God, I know what I’m asking for here. I know this man is dead. I need a miracle’,” Holland said.
After emergency responders arrived and took over the scene, and people started to gather at the scene, at one point Taylor asked Holland if he thought the man was going to make it.
“I looked around at all the contractors, and I didn’t want to say ‘no’ because all of his friends were standing around, so I was like, ‘Yeah, he’s going to be good’,” Holland said. “I didn’t believe it when I said it.”
“It kind of sank in that his family was never going to see him again,” Berggren said.
Taylor, a flight school student who serves with the Mississippi Army National Guard, and who had coordinated emergency efforts, said he was surprised when he heard them say they had a pulse on him.
“I was like, we’re talking about the same guy, right?” Taylor said
Berggren said he felt joyful when Clemmons’ pulse was restored and he was transported to a hospital, but he and Holland said they were also thinking about the ramifications of going without oxygen for that long.
“Even if he makes it through the night, there’s no way he’s going to be normal again. There’s no way there’s not going to be brain damage with that long being out,” Holland said.
Holland said he “completely underestimated God’s power that day,” and he recalled how the workers on the airfield rallied in support.
“The M1 contractors from all over the field surrounded that man. They all stood in a circle and began praying for him. I am a thousand percent sure those prayers did a lot more that day than me, Chris or Tom did,” Holland said.
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When they visited him in the hospital, Taylor said he didn’t recognize him.
“His color was back. It was incredible,” he said. “It’s completely a miracle. All the tiny little coincidences and everything added up to this, to (Berggren) having an EMT license, to us going by at the exact right time.”
For his actions that day, Holland was presented the U.S. Army Safety Guardian Award, by Brig. Gen. Jonathan C. Byrom, U.S. Army Combat Readiness Center commander, in a ceremony at Lowe Army Heliport June 21.
The Department of the Army level award to individuals who take extraordinary action in an emergency situation to eliminate or minimize loss.
“This is offensive prevention of a fatality,” Byrom said of Holland and his two students.
Byrom said the story of what happened that day is “simply amazing.”
“You know, we all look for heroes in life,” Byrom said. “This is a unique opportunity in that we have the individual who was saved by Chief Holland and his two compatriots that were with him that day. Somebody who should not be here right now, who is here, with extended family--we’re talking generations here.”
“I am very grateful to you,” Byrom said to Holland, and turning to Clemmons he added, “and I am excited for you, sir. Honestly, you look great.”
Holland thanked leaders and special guests at the ceremony, and said it was amazing to see Clemmons recover.
“I got to go to a 56th birthday party for a man that I found dead three weeks before that,” Holland said.
Looking back, Holland said the little delays that day had frustrated him.
“When the logbook died, I was like, you’ve got to be kidding me. I was mad, because this shouldn’t happen. To find out later that was one piece of the chess board being moved to make sure we found him,” he said.
Those delays led him and his students straight to Clemmons.
“The book of Romans tells us the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. ‘And we know for those who love God all things work together for good for those who are called according to His purpose’. I can’t wait to see the purpose that God has for you in life, Tim,” Holland said to Clemmons.
Holland commended Clemmons’ family members in the audience for their support.
“The Lord has blessed you with a large family, Tim, and it’s their prayers that are going to help you make it through this and come out the other side and start fixing radios for us again. I love you and I’m glad you came into my life,” Holland said.
Holland said Clemmons is a survivor.
“He never quit. He’s gone through a lot medically. There’s never been a time he didn’t look happy or joyful that he had life,” Holland said.
Holland lauded the flight school students’ efforts, including calling for help and working to resuscitate him.
“For eight minutes this PT stud pumped on this man’s chest,” Holland said.
Clemmons said he was thankful.
“I feel great to be alive,” Clemmons said.
Asked how he feels about the response from Holland and the two flight school students, Clemmons said, “I love them.”
“We crossed paths that day. Just like anything else--a marriage, a car wreck--you’ve got to cross paths. And that’s what happened that day. God sent them there for a reason. He made that logbook battery dead for some reason. They were not supposed to go that way (on the airfield), coming back up, but they did and saw me on the ground.”
Clemmons also noted if he hadn’t fallen from the cart that day, no one would have known about his medical emergency.
There were “a lot of prayers that day,” Clemmons said. “Good folks here at Lowe field, I love them all.”
“I know God is good,” he said.
| Date Taken: | 07.01.2024 |
| Date Posted: | 07.01.2024 05:33 |
| Story ID: | 474714 |
| Location: | FORT NOVOSEL, ALABAMA, US |
| Web Views: | 268 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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