Guardians,
I welcome expressions of how your service to help the children, men and women of Haiti has made a difference in your life. Here's an email from Ensign Christopher Pince, published by a newspaper today.
ADM A
The Concord [NH] Monitor
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
'This is why we signed up'
Concord 'Coastie' joins relief effort in Haiti
By CHRISTOPHER PINCE
For the Monitor
Ensign Christopher Pince, 22, of Concord is aboard
the Tahoma, a U.S. Coast Guard cutter based in
Portsmouth that has been dispatched to Haiti to assist
earthquake victims. Pince e-mailed this letter to his
fiancee Saturday, who forwarded it to family members.
His parents, David and Meg Pince, offered to share
it with the Monitor:
Shortly after I e-mailed you this morning, I was told I
was going to be on one of the boarding teams going
over this morning. I quickly changed into my blue
coveralls and boots and headed down to board the
small boat that would take us over. I was the second
wave of Coasties to go over. We left at about 9 a.m.
As I headed over, I noticed (that) the trash I told you
about that littered the harbor water began to get much
heavier. Soon
you couldn't even see water, it was just trash and
debris. We were dropped off at the Haitian Coast
Guard Base . . . or what was left of it. It really was
just a couple ruined buildings and a dock. There were
several trashed boats laying on what was left of a
small beach. But what was left of the base was in
ruins.
We disembarked from the small boat and started
walking down a small road. The road had different
levels to it, like it was split in random places. Some
higher, some lower. Trees were uprooted, rocks
and boulders were all over the place. As you looked
around all you could see were uprooted trees and
deserted huts, most of which were completely in ruins.
I passed several huge stone buildings that were
destroyed and looked like they were about to fall
over at the slightest breeze. We had marked these
off with yellow caution tape to alert people not to go
near them.
We continued walking down the road and began to
notice Haitian people just sitting by the side of the
road. Some of them had makeshift bandages, others
just were sitting there. Some talked, others just
looked forlorn and stared at the ground. Even those
who talked were solemn and downtrodden. There
was no laughter, no smiles, no children's voices -
just silence.
As we got closer to the building that we had set up
as our makeshift clinic, the silence was broken by
the sounds of people, but it wasn't the normal sounds
you hear from people . . . they were screams,
wailing, crying, and desperate calls for what had to
be help. I knew I was going to be walking into a
destroyed third world country, but nothing could have
prepared me for what I saw at the clinic.
Here's the rest of the email as published in The Concord (NH) Monitor:
Pleas for help
