Hospital corpsman stationed in Groton receives high honor for landslide rescue work
Groton — Hospital Corpsman 2nd Class Brent McIntyre received the Navy and Marine Corps Medal, the second-highest noncombatant honor, during a ceremony Friday at the Naval Branch Health Clinic.
McIntyre, 32 and a native of Prescott Valley, Ariz., was awarded the medal for his action as a search-and-rescue medical technician while part of a crew responding to a landslide in Oso, Wash., on March 22, 2014, near where he was assigned at Naval Air Station Whidbey Island.
McIntyre “demonstrated unwavering determination in the face of vast personal danger to save the lives of four civilians,” according to his award citation. McIntyre faced chest-deep mud, unstable demolished houses, sinkholes, exposed insulation, downed power lines, open natural gas lines and the threat of another landslide or flooding and remained in the debris field with each survivor until he or she was rescued by helicopter, according to the citation.
McIntyre was presented the award by U.S. Rep. Joe Courtney, D-2nd District, who recalled being on the floor of the House of Representatives as news came in of the landslide that killed 43 people.
“The eyes of the country were on the loss that took place and all the heroism and hard work of first responders. Flags were at half staff, and there was a moment of silence on the floor of the House, which doesn’t happen very often,” Courtney said.
McIntyre accepted the medal amid rounds of applause during a ceremony that Cmdr. Todd Ochsner said McIntyre deserved but had not asked for.
“I know that you didn’t necessarily desire all the pomp and circumstance that’s around you today and that you actually requested much smaller means to receive this recognition. All I can say is that your sentiment embodies that of a true and genuine selflessness that is sorely missed in the modern era.
“Believe me, we all need this ceremony more than you do,” said Ochsner, who also thanked McIntyre for allowing him to “believe in, see and shake the hand of a hero.”
After he accepted his award, Ochsner allowed McIntyre to step back out of the spotlight, smiling while he said, “Yes, HM2, you can go back now.”
Capt. Carl Lahti, commander of the Groton base, praised hospital corpsmen for their work, saying they respond to emergency situations “armed primarily with the weapon of compassion.”
McIntyre was one of a crew of five who responded to the landslide, and was one of two to receive the Navy and Marine Corps Medal, an honor famously awarded to President John F. Kennedy for his service during World War II. McIntyre has been stationed in Groton since September and is expected to graduate from the Naval Undersea Medical Institute in November.
McIntyre recalled that on the day of the landslide he was dropped from a helicopter onto the roof of a house where a person was waving down his crew.
“Once I got on the ground, the thing that I distinctly remember is that everybody was spread far apart, and you couldn’t walk through the mud,” McIntyre said. “I was sinking regularly up to my waist. We were throwing down pieces of drywall, trying to make snowshoes,” he said.
The rest of McIntyre’s crew was honored on Feb. 11 in Washington, which is how McIntyre found out he had won the award. He said he wished he could have received the award with the rest of them so that the focus wouldn’t have been all on him.
“This whole buildup has been very fast and overwhelming, to put it lightly. I’m not big for fanfare,” said McIntyre, who said he knew his name was submitted for the award but was never seeking one.
“We went on a mission, we did a mission. The recognition ... doesn’t play in for me. I was happy to be in a position where I could help other people on the ground that day, so all this is extra.”
j.hopper@theday.com
Twitter:@JessHoppa
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