Sailors trained in basic carpentry, painting, and electrical work utilize their skills in repairing damaged schools and orphanages. The helicopter mechanics that usually keep the birds in the air lended a hand to the Sailors and civilian mariners of Niagara Falls in rebuilding a Dili high school. I really enjoyed helping out the kids as well as the community. It makes you feel good to bring smiles to faces who don't have much to smile about. East Timor is a very beautiful and hilly country with mountains that rise to almost 10,000.
Many remote villages located high on mountainsides are reachable only by mule train.
After a good rain the soil becomes loose and if a heavy truck come along, it will slide down the mountain, killing the occupants and losing the truck as well. The first day of flight operations involved rebuilding another school in the village of Lassori. Landing in the middle of a soccer field, hundreds of children flocked to see the helicopters bring supplies to build their new school. More than five tons of corn from the World Food Organization were lifted to an isolated landing zone close to the Indonesian border. Flying over 6,000 ft mountain ridges and steep valleys, the aircrews could see how treacherous some of the roads were.