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THE DAILY ASTORIAN • TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 2016
Edward Stratton/The Daily Astorian
Edward Stratton/The Daily Astorian
Edward Stratton/The Daily Astorian
Chief Petty Officer Michael Spen-
cer, a rescue swimmer with the
U.S. Coast Guard for the past 20
years, was awarded the Coast
Guard Medal Monday for rescu-
ing two people at Cape Kiwanda
in February.
Lt. Cmdr. Jim Cooley, right, was
awarded the Capt. Marion Gus
Shrode Aviation Safety Award
Monday at Air Station Astoria by
Capt. Bill Timmons, commander
of the U.S. Coast Guard’s Sector
Columbia River.
Lt. Loren Nordyke of North Lincoln
County Fire & Rescue was one of
two people pulled out of the Punch
Bowl beneath Cape Kiwanda in
February by Chief Petty Officer Mi-
chael Spencer, a rescue swimmer
with the U.S. Coast Guard.
Edward Stratton/The Daily Astorian
From left, Capt. Bill Timmons, commander of the U.S. Coast Guard’s
sector Columbia River, awarded Lt. Daniel Cathell and Petty officer
Justin Roberts the Aviation Standardization Excellence Award. The two
oversaw standardization training for Air Station Astoria, rated the best
among all nine of HH-60 Jayhawk helicopter bases assessed in the U.S.
Honor: Spencer showed his heroics during the Great Coastal Gale, too
Continued from Page 1A
Harbor Feb. 1 when they were told that
17-year-old Megan Owens of Marys-
ville, Washington, had fallen into the
surf Cape Kiwanda. The crew stopped
for fuel and headed for Pacific City.
“She had been in water around an
hour by the time we got there,” Spen-
cer said of Owens. “After an hour
being in the water in jeans and a sweat-
shirt, survivability is going down.”
The crew scanned along the coast-
line to see if Owens had washed up
in a cave or nook. Spencer said his
crew members then spotted a rescuer
motoring a Jet Ski in a tidal inlet lead-
ing to a sea cave below the cliffs of
the cape, towing a second rescuer on
a board. Spencer said the crew saw the
ski and board crest a wave and fall 10
feet, the passenger on the board falling
off into the water.
“We immediately switched from
searching for her (Owens) to them,”
he said.
In the Punch Bowl
Loren Nordyke and Eric Maestas,
with North Lincoln County Fire &
Rescue, had arrived about 30 minutes
after Owens reportedly fell into the
ocean at Cape Kiwanda after climb-
ing with some friends. Nordyke, who
attended Monday’s ceremony, drove
the Jet Ski into the Punch Bowl, tow-
‘If you listen to the audio, again,
those guys are rock stars.
Everyone was calm and doing
their job to a T.’
Michael Spencer
chief petty officer and rescue swimmer with the U.S. Coast Guard,
speaking of the crew’s even-toned demeanor throughout the rescue
ing Maestas behind him on a board
used to carry out survivors.
Nordyke said he tried a couple
times to swing around and pick up
Maestas on the Jet Ski. But Maestas
was knocked out and getting close to
the rocks, Nordyke said, so he went
into the water after his partner.
“I was trying to keep us off the
rocks and keep the ski away from us,”
Nordyke said.
Spencer credited Nordyke with
keeping his partner alive and breathing
while the helicopter crew prepared for
the rescue. It only took a couple min-
utes before Spencer was being low-
ered 80 feet on a hook from the heli-
copter to the roiling surf below with a
quick strop to retrieve Maestas.
“He was pretty out of it,” Spencer
said of Maestas, who suffered a con-
cussion, broken nose and a laceration
along his upper lip. “It was as close to
unconscious as you’re going to get. I
pinned his arms down on the outside
of the strap.”
Maestas, who couldn’t attend
Monday because he was back at work,
told The News Guard in Lincoln City
that he vaguely remembered a Coast
Guard swimmer strapping him into a
harness, but not much more. The heli-
copter crew set Spencer and Maes-
tas down on a rocky flat about 40 feet
above, where medics were waiting.
The helicopter then lowered Spencer
back into the Punch Bowl, where Nor-
dyke had been washed into a cave.
Rock stars
Spencer has helped train other
Coast Guard rescuers on techniques
for operating in a cave. In all of those
trainings, he said, “I’ve mentioned that
I would not go into a cave still hooked
to a helicopter.”
Spencer said rescuers who do so
risk their hoist line being hooked on
an underwater object, pulling them
under. But Spencer said he felt con-
fident enough in the crew to take the
risk.
Leaving behind visual contact
with the helicopter, Spencer silenced
all radio communications except
between himself and his hoist opera-
tor. He found Nordyke in the cave, try-
ing to mount the Jet Ski but with little
luck. After reaching Nordyke, Spen-
cer worked his arms into the harness,
before giving the hoist operator the
“up easy” order to slowly pull the two
out of the cave.
“If you listen to the audio, again,
those guys are rock stars,” Spen-
cer said of the crew’s even-toned
demeanor throughout the rescue.
“Everyone was calm and doing their
job to a T.”
After the rescuers were taken out of
the water, Maestas was transferred in a
rescue basket to awaiting paramedics.
The Coast Guard continued searching
for Owens until the next day.
Spencer said his crew was on scene
for a few hours searching for the girl.
“You’re doing what you can, but in the
back of your mind, we’re kind of in
recovery mode,” he said, adding part
of the search is providing closure.
Heroes
“In my mind, to be a great aviator,
to be a great flight mechanic, to be a
great rescue swimmer … that makes
you hero,” said Capt. Bill Timmons,
commander of Sector Columbia River.
The motto of the Coast Guard is
semper paratus, Latin for “always
ready.” Timmons said that means
being ready to go into harm’s way in
the service of others. “We ingrain this
expectation into every single member
here at Air Station Astoria.”
Spencer was a rescue swimmer
stationed at Air Station Astoria when
the Great Coastal Gale hit in early
December 2007. He was just coming
off a surgery and re-entering the rota-
tion when he and the members of two
Coast Guard air crews were sent to
Chehalis, Washington, where the Che-
halis River had busted through a levee
and left hundreds stranded.
Spencer and his crew worked their
way around Chehalis performing
some very unique rescues, hoisting
people off of roofs, out of windows
and from their cars. He said they lifted
30 people to safety over several hours.
For his heroism, Spencer received
the Distinguished Flying Cross, a
medal given to a member of any
branch who exhibits “heroism or
extraordinary achievement while par-
ticipating in an aerial flight.”
The honors are great, Spencer said,
but the best feeling is when everyone
else is up a creek without a paddle, he
can come to their rescue.
March of Dimes Nurse of the Year Awards
Nurse of the Year!
Congratulations to Oregon and Southwest Washington’s 2016 Small Hospital Nurse of
the Year, Kendra Gohl! Kendra is a certified infection preventionist and manager of CMH’s
Care Management department.
CMH is also proud to be home to 11 award finalists! Congratulations to:
• Jay Reynolds
• Maria Shipley
• Kelsey Betts
• Amy Karsten
• Brandy Spencer
• Casseopia Fisher • Shannon Lackey • Brooke Roberts
• Jenny Jacques
• Jamee Meier
• Mariah Rudolfi
2111 Exchange Street, Astoria, Oregon • 503-325-4321 • www.columbiamemorial.org • A Planetree-Designated Hospital