Fire chief recounting over 30 years fighting fires and conducting search and rescues in Alaska

Wednesday, September 13, 2006

from "Katalla Dive"
---I called McAlister in Valdez
and thanked him for sending his guys over to help. He said that when they got back to Valdez, they had gone in to see him and told him that they would be glad to dive in the Valdez arm or the entire Prince William Sound if he wanted, but “Chief Whetsell can take that Gulf of Alaska and shove it up his ass.” But, he continued to explain that they (the Blackburn brothers and two others) were already deciding which of them would come back if their help was still needed. ….At any rate, within a day or two, the plane broke up in the storm that had been approaching and the body of Mr. Joy was found. The body of the other son was never recovered.
---During that operation, I lost a mask, one fin, and ten pounds. But Fred Brady gained a splint. He sold his diving gear within a week and never dived again.