Evening star., 1938-07-10
AIR AMBULANCES
CUT TOLL AT SEA
Coast Guard Pilots Respond
Quickly, Save Lives at
Risk of Own.

Quickly, Save Lives at
Risk of Own.
BY the Associated Press.
The ambulance crews of the high
seas-braving storm and fog in flying
lifeboats-have cut the toll OF quick
death on shipboard.
Racing against time to bring to
emergency wards the pent-up poison
Of acute appendicitis. the gushing flow
Of an open wound or the double dan
ger of an unknown disease, Coast
Guard life-savers play the twin role
Of navigator and inferno to the sick 1t
sea.
Every ocean skipper-from the cap
tain of a luxury liner to the boss OF
a Newfoundland fishing crew-knows
the "NCU' call as the sos" Of the
Coast Guard. He depends on it In
medical emergencies as well as in the
greater crises of shipwreck or distress
at sea.
Fl Along U. S. Coast.
There are 81 flying lifeboats scat
tered along the coast of the United
States. They carried l85 emergency
medical cases to hospitals last year.
In addition. several Coast Guard
craft carry planes as standard equip
ment. The cutters and smaller craft
always are alert for emergency calls
from ships or isolated stretches of
shore.
When "NCU" flashes over the air,
the Guardsmen do not wait for in
structions from higher-ups. A Coast
Guard plane had just taken OF from
the Gloucester (Mass) Air Station en-
route to Washington one morning
when the operator, adjusting his head
phones to his ears, caught the call of
"NCU." A trawler. ITO miles at sea,
asked medical aid for a sailor whose
fingers had been torn OF by . steam
windlaaB.
Response Immediate.
The plane veered to seward at once,
plunged through dense fog. and spot
ted the trawler. The 0uardsmen
landed on the sea and took the bleed
ing man aboard. The crew had started
on q routine trip without hospital
corps man aboard. but one Guardsman n
hald the injured arm up" to slacken
the flow Of blood and another pressed
tightly on the other arm to equalixe
the pain. Meanwhile, the radio man
was reporting to Boston headquarters.
When they landed at Boston an ambu-
lance was waiting. and the man was
in the hospital two hours after the
"NCU" had been picked up.
The Army transport Republic was
plowing through rough sea on its
way to Panama in the spring of 1885
when the ships doctor reported Mai.
Walter Gullion so i'll only quick sur
gerry could save him. Darkness was
coming on.
Plane will contact Republic S am.
tomorrow of Hole-in- the Wall. Fla"
came the reply from the air station at
Miami. But the doctor said "tomor-
row" would be too late.
Seeks Tiny Objective.
The Coast Guard sent the flying
boat Arcturus into action. 1t. c. B.
Olson pointed the plane. with a crew
of four, into the face of thick weather.
Their destination was one ship lost
in the black ocean night, 800 miles
from Miami.
After three hours of flight, the
searchlights Of the transport were
sighted ahead. The Arcturus landed
in a rough sea, the PROSTATE Army
officer and his wife we're brought to the
plane in q lifeboat. Just before mid
night the Arcturus landed in Miami.
Doctors operated at once and the
operation was successful. 1t. Olson's
feat won him the Distinguished Flying
Cross Of the Coast Guard.
On isolated Ocracoke Island, below
Cape Hatteras. 18-year- -old Armstead
T. ONeill, chopping wood, slashed
into his knee. To reach a hospital
meant travel by land and water too
slow to save the boys life. But the
Ocracoke Coast Guard Station sig
nailed Norfolk for a plane.
Danger Ahead.
The same 1t. Burke who had carried
the fisherman to Boston was there. and
he knew the hazards of q night land
ing In the log-strewn, swampy shall
lows of Ocracoke. But he took of
Three hours later he landed in the
sound, but almost at once his plane
ran aground on a mud nat. He was
half mile from the Coast Guard Sta
ton. and menacing fish stakes poked
out Of the water all around.
Guardsmen rowed out from the sta
ton and worked the plane of the
mud. Again it started for the shore
and again it stuck. On shore, the
youth lay bleeding.
1t. Burke headed his plane into deem
water, still lodging the fish-stakes.
And the Guardsmen rowed back to
fetch the injured youth in their boat.
Seven hours after his ak had Slipped.
O'Neill. still bleeding badly. was tucked
into the plane. A two-hour fiieht
through darkness and bad weather
brought him to the waiting ambulance
at the Naval Air Station in HAMPTON
Roads, Va.