Air station marks 30-year anniversary of tragic loss of helicopter crew during attempted rescue at sea
Story by Petty Officer 1st Class Matt Belson
Photos by Petty Officer 2nd Class Etta Smith
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Coast Guard Lt. Cmdr. James Stiles; Petty Officers John Tait and Bruce Kaehler; and Canadian Forces exchange pilot Capt. Richard Burge were killed when their Pelican helicopter CG1432 lost power while attempting to medevac a Japanese fishermen from the fishing vessel Kaisei Maru that was about 180 miles off Cape Cod. The helicopter performed an emergency landing on the water but was quickly swamped by the high seas. Only one crewmember, Mark Torr, survived the landing. He escaped the overturned helicopter and was rescued by the fishing vessel.
Since the incident, the air station has held an annual memorial service on Feb.18 to remember the crew of CG1432. This year family members from all four crewmen who were killed gathered to mark the 30th anniversary of their deaths.
"This is always a great relief in my heart that the families for the most part have dealt with their pain and moved on," said Torr.
Even three decades later Torr said dealing with the loss of his fellow crewmembers remains difficult.
"I enjoy seeing everybody and it gives me a greater sense that hopefully I will be able to put it in the past, " he added.
During the memorial service held in one of the aircraft hangars, uniformed members from the Coast Guard and Canadian forces lined up in formation as speakers paid tribute to the sacrifice of the crew of CG1432.
Sitting in front were representatives from the four crewmembers families whose sense of loss was still palpable.
Catie Diesenbaugh, Stiles's daughter, spoke during the service about how difficult it is to accept that she is now older than her father was when he died, and that her children will never know him.
Another guest speaker, Rear Adm. John Currier, commander of the Coast Guard 13th District, talked about his time as a pilot at the air station during the same time the CG1432 went down.
"We were all part of a very tight wardroom, a close group of H-3 pilots and search and rescue pilots here on Cape Cod," said Currier before the service. "We were a close knit group because we shared risks."
Following the service in the hangar, a procession was lead by a bagpiper to the CG1432 memorial at the entrance to the air station where a wreath was laid.
"I'm unable to put into words how much it means to be here and to have so many people still remembering and joining together, and having this opportunity to be with everybody in my Dad's memory," said Burge's daughter Lori Fierheller, after the wreath laying.
Following a luncheon, the guests traveled to Falmouth Heights Waterfront Park for a final ceremony and to watch Torr drop two wreaths into the water from a hovering HH-60 Jayhawk helicopter. Torr was onboard along with Rex Barton, a retired chief petty officer who was on duty in the air station's operation center the night the CG1432 made the emergency landing in the water.
Capt. Dan Abel, commander of the air station, said besides remembrance, the ceremony is a way to honor the Coast Guard's heroes and emphasize the "Guardian Ethos" to younger generations.
"[This ceremony] helps instill a sense of legacy and purpose to our new crewmembers and learn what it really means to stand the watch and go into peril for those in distress out at sea," said Abel.
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