whaleboat crew sent to investigate the condition of the refugee boat with LT Murphy (OIC), Mitch Swift (engineer), Tom Demane (radiotelephone operator/Vietnamese interpreter by virtue of having a Vietnamese girlfriend), Killer Kilpatrick (coxswain), Kevin Trifilo (gunner armed with an M-14), and the RTN exchange officer. A Thai fisherman had come along side of the refugee boat and had taken on some of the people. We must have been some sight with Mitch Swift hoisting the Ensign on the stern of the boat, like Washington crossing the Delaware. A cheer went up from the people on the refugee boat as they saw us approach in the motor whaleboat. LT Murphy told Demane to ask the people why they were cheering. He did and someone on the boat shouted in clearly understandable English have “We escaped from Vietnam!” Their boat was a mess and most definitely not seaworthy. The smell was unlike any other foulness I have ever known. We had to wait while permission to embark these people went up the chain, I believe all the way up to COMSEVENTHFLEET. By the time we were given clearance to embark them it was pitch dark except for the lights on the fantail of the ship. We ended up taking on 262 South Vietnamese refugees who survived their ordeal. We managed to get the refugee boat along with the Thai fishing boat along side the port side of the ship aft. The crew set up some makeshift showers on the fantail. Most were able to walk, but some were not. After getting showered and all they were sent up to the 0-1 level aft. The guys swung around Mount 52 and threw a tarp over the gun, which helped get some of them out of the elements. The guys brought a girl, maybe 5 years old, on board in a stretcher dead. I saw her face, the face of death. Dr. Pryor and I tried to resuscitate her but she was gone. When we got all the people off the boat our guys found two dead kids in the
whaleboat crew sent to investigate the condition of the refugee boat with LT Murphy (OIC), Mitch Swift (engineer), Tom Demane (radiotelephone operator/Vietnamese interpreter by virtue of having a Vietnamese girlfriend), Killer Kilpatrick (coxswain), Kevin Trifilo (gunner armed with an M-14), and the RTN exchange officer. A Thai fisherman had come along side of the refugee boat and had taken on some of the people. We must have been some sight with Mitch Swift hoisting the Ensign on the stern of the boat, like Washington crossing the Delaware. A cheer went up from the people on the refugee boat as they saw us approach in the motor whaleboat. LT Murphy told Demane to ask the people why they were cheering. He did and someone on the boat shouted in clearly understandable English “We have escaped from Vietnam!” Their boat was a mess and most definitely not seaworthy. The smell was unlike any other foulness I have ever known. We had to wait while permission to embark these people went up the chain, I believe all the way up to COMSEVENTHFLEET. By the time we were given clearance to embark them it was pitch dark except for the lights on the fantail of the ship. We ended up taking on 262 South Vietnamese refugees who survived their ordeal. We managed to get the refugee boat along with the Thai fishing boat along side the port side of the ship aft. The crew set up some makeshift showers on the fantail. Most were able to walk, but some were not. After getting showered and all they were sent up to the 0-1 level aft. The guys swung around Mount 52 and threw a tarp over the gun, which helped get some of them out of the elements. The guys brought a girl, maybe 5 years old, on board in a stretcher dead. I saw her face, the face of death. Dr. Pryor and I tried to resuscitate her but she was gone. When we got all the people off the boat our guys found two dead kids in the
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