LC-130 Wreck

HM2 Barney Card reacts.

 

At 8:30 that morning, a National

Science Foundation LC-130 Her-

cules airplane, operated by a U.S.

Navy crew fromVXE 6, was on a rou-

tine resupply flight from McMurdo

Station. It crashed while attempting

to land near Card's isolated outpost

750 miles northwest of McMurdo

Station.

 

Heroism didn't even cross Card's

mind when he heard the shouts of

"crash!" He grabbed his parka and

gloves and jumped on a snowmobile

to get down to the landing strip. All

that could be seen was smoke and

twisted metal. With two Navy civil-

ians from the camp, Brad Honeycutt

and Johnny Howard, Card ran to the

cockpit of the plane.

The three searched for a way into

the plane.

 

In the cockpit, the trapped crew

members were also looking for a way

out. There was no time to waste -

fuel was leaking into the cockpit and

electrical power could ignite it. The

rescuers found a small hole in the

cockpit fuselage, enlarged it, then

one by one, the victims were care-

fully pulled out. Fires from JP-5 air-

craft fuel burned all around the

wreckage. The danger of explosion

made the extrication harrowing.

"I was scared"; said Card. I knew

that it could blow at any minute and

I just wanted to get everyone away

from the plane.

 

One of the first people I re-

member seeing was Card said one

survivor.

 

He literally gave me the shirt off his back ,

he also gave me his parka and gloves, and continued

to work in just his thermal under-

shirt. After all the victims were re-

moved from the wreckage, they were

loaded onto sleds for the mile-long

trek to shelter.

 

The sleds were only 15 feet from

the wreckage when the first of sev-

eral explosions rocked the aircraft.

Back at the camp, Card used the

barracks tent as a makeshift emer-

gency room. "I assigned a person

from camp to each one of the victims

, to sit with them," said Card.

"They kept an eye on them and let

me know what was going on, and I

could move from one to another."

"Petty Officer Card was evaluat-

ing injuries, trying to figure out who

was the most serious and get them

stabilized," said one survivor. "He

would hover around one person, find

out the extent of his injuries - do

the minimum he needed to, then

move on to the next person. The guy

was just superb. He was like the

calm in the eye of the storm."

 

While Card was administering

emergency care, a medical evacua-

tion flight with a surgeon and other

corpsmen had been launched from

McMurdo Station. Constant radio

contact was kept during the opera-

tion between Card and McMurdo

medical personnel.

 

 

Because of bad weather, it was ap-

proximately eight hours before the

rescue flight arrived.

Two VXE 6 personnel had been

killed instantly in the crash. Nine

injured personnel were returned to

McMurdo for evaluation. Four survi-

vors were sent to New Zealand for

further treatment.

 

"This was a situation that would

have tasked a hospital emergency

room," said Lt. David S. Kermode, a

Navy doctor who cared for the survi-

vors in McMurdo. "Card had nine

cases - four of them serious. One

would have died without him. He

really kept his wits about him."

"The job was incredible," said

Robert Johnson, a corpsman who

was on the medevac flight. "We got

there to find a really professional

set-up. He is definitely a hero."

"I don't know if 'hero' can be

used," said Card. "Everyone had a

part in this - I can't say enough for

the help given by the doctors and

everyone involved. I've never seen a

group mesh and work together as we

did here at the McMurdo dispensary.

I won't deny we all did a heck of a

good job, but we're not heroes."

"All I can say is, that if I had been

in that situation," said Johnson, "I

hope that I would have acted like

Barney Card.

 

Story by J02 David Melancon

Melancon is assigned to Naval Support

Force, Antarctica. Published 1988

Done