A True Hero and Son of the Upper Peninsula

“The ordinary man is involved in action, the hero acts. An immense difference.”
-- Henry Miller, “The Books in My Life” (1952)

After the near tragedy on the Hudson River last month, we (my Argumentative Writing class) had a discussion concerning the definition of heroism. The hoopla in the news about the pilot’s veteran ability to ditch the plane on the icy waters was certainly an admirable accomplishment, but does this qualify him as a hero? The Latin terms for two essential heroic qualities are sapienta (wisdom) and fortitudo (strength), and Chesley Sullenberger certainly possessed these character traits; but do these attributes in themselves constitute heroism? I mean, had the pilot been borderline illiterate and wheelchair bound, he still might have landed the plane.

My contention is that Sullenberger’s actions were amazing considering what might have been, but not necessarily heroic. Why, because heroism implies a choice. Yes, Sullenberger saved himself, the crew, and the passengers, but what choice did he have. Put yourself in his position. Would you do anything different? No. You would do everything in your power to save yourself, and any residual benefits would be all the better. Having done that, would you call yourself a hero? I brought this up with a colleague at work this morning, and he agreed that the element of choice is a key aspect of being heroic. He then offered an example of someone he considers a hero. His answer, a vague reference to the guy that saved the woman in the 1980’s crash of an Air Florida plane on the Potomac River in Washington D. C., inspired this blog. I decided to make a call.

When my family first moved from French Morocco (Africa) to Marquette in the late 1950s our closest family friends were the Skutniks. My dad, Air Force MSGT Oliver Tessier, was the best friend of First Sargeant Martin L. Skutnik. Since the housing area of K. I. Sawyer Air Force Base was not yet built, we lived next door to each other on Ridge Street in Marquette. Later on, after we moved into base housing in the mid-sixties, my brothers and I stayed close to the Skutnik kids. My girlfriend was Nadine Skutnik, while my brother, Paul, was Lenny’s best friend. In about 1969, both of our families moved away from the U.P. We slowly drifted apart and lost contact, which is how it is with many military brats. There are many close buds I had from that time that I still can’t locate.

Now fast forward to 1980. Jimmy Carter had just lost his second run for office to Ronald Regan after having bungled the Iran hostage crisis in 1979, and Nightline, with Ted Koppel, became a fixture of the late night news. It became a way of keeping the public abreast of the events of the day once the Iranian debacle had passed. The show stayed on the air and survives to this day. After arriving home on a late January evening in 1982, I turned on the telly, grabbed a beer, and heard Koppel mention the name, Lenny Skutnik. Knowing the chances were slim that this might be some other Lenny Skutnik, I turned up the TV and sat there riveted to the unbelievable images before me. Back to the call I had to make.

Yesterday, I spoke with Lenny on the phone. He told me those years when he went from being a little boy to a teenager in the Upper Peninsula were some of the best times of his life. In fact, he called me about three years ago to inquire about what the Sawyer area is like now, and where he might go and stay if he revisited his early years. I asked him about that call.
He told me that once he found out Sawyer’s housing area was now a low-income-housing-project, he had no interest in making that trip. I then asked him how the near impossible story of the Hudson miracle landing impacted his life. He said that, yes, he had gotten a call from a D. C. news station, and that he had declined to be interviewed due to the politicization of his actions shortly after that cold January night in 1982.

In a tragic coincidence, I write this following a horrible plane crash last night in which a Continental Airlines commuter jet carrying 49 passengers and crew crashed outside of Buffalo, New York, killing everyone aboard. So why am I talking about Lenny Skutnik, and what does this have to do with the meaning of heroism? Here’s why.

There was another hero in all this. The man who kept passing the rope to his fellow passengers. Being aboard the plane makes his story slightly different than Lenny's, but again, his actions involved a choice. When he, Arland D. Williams Jr., decided to help others by ultimately sacrificing his own life, he transcended the attitude of self-interest (survival) hard-wired in all of us, thus achieving the status of the heroic.

Here's some information from a Web-site encyclopedia source:

 

"The helicopter crew lowered a line to survivors to tow them to shore. First to receive the line, Bert Hamilton, who was treading water about ten feet from the floating tail, took the single lifeline dangling beneath the chopper and passed it under his arms. The others watched while the helicopter carried him a hundred yards to the Virginia shore and returned. The helicopter pilot had to gently move the survivor across the ice, while avoiding the sides of the bridge and keeping an eye on the crowd. By now, some fire rescue had arrived but military personnel and civilians were the key in pulling the survivors from the shore up to the waiting ambulances. The survivors were nearly frozen with ice on their clothes, making them feel like they were 3 times their body weight. It would take 6 people to get each survivor from the shore up to the waiting ambulances. The helicopter returned to the location of the aircraft's tail, and this time a survivor sometimes referred to as "the sixth passenger" (later identified as Arland D. Williams Jr.) caught the line. Instead of wrapping it around himself, however, he passed it to flight attendant Kelly Duncan. On its third trip back to the wreckage, the helicopter trailed two lifelines, for its crew knew that survival in the river was now only a matter of minutes. One of the lines was aimed at "the sixth passenger." He caught it again, and again passed it on, this time to Joe Stiley, the most severely injured survivor. Stiley slipped the line around his waist and grabbed Priscilla Tirado who, having lost her husband and baby, was in complete hysteria. Patricia Felch took the second line, and the helicopter pulled away. Before it reached the shore, however, both Priscilla Tirado and Patricia Felch lost their grip and fell back into the water.

United States Coast Guard Capstan was too far away on another search and rescue mission downriver to assist the 6 initial survivors of Air Florida Flight 90 which crashed into the 14th Street Bridge and then the ice-choked Potomac River on January 13, 1982. Capstan is seen here with another smaller Coast Guard boat helping with recovery of bodies and salvage operations.

By then one of these passengers, Priscilla Tirado, was too weak to grab the line. A watching bystander, Congressional Budget Office assistant Lenny Skutnik, stripped off his coat and boots, and in short sleeves, dove into the icy water, and swam out to assist her. The helicopter then proceeded to where Patricia Felch had fallen and paramedic Gene Windsor dropped from the safety of the helicopter into the water to attach a line to her. By the time the helicopter crew could return for the sixth passenger, the last survivor, both he and the plane's tail section had disappeared beneath the icy surface. He had been in the paralyzing cold for twenty-nine minutes. His body and those of the other occupants were later recovered. According to the coroner, this man, who had passed the lifeline to others, was the only plane passenger to die by drowning."

Here's more on Lenny from Wikipedia.

“Martin Leonard Skutnik III (born 1953, Mississippi) is an American employee of the Federal government of the United States. He goes generally by "Lenny" as his first name. Skutnik has held various jobs as a painter, supermarket porter, and cook for the Burger Chef restaurant chain. He has also worked in a meat packing plant and in a furniture factory.

Lenny Skutnik is most celebrated for an act of heroism following the crash of Air Florida Flight 90 on January 13, 1982 in the Potomac River, Washington, DC. At the time, Skutnik was a US government office assistant. During the rescue operation of passengers from the crashed plane, one passenger, Priscilla Tirado, was too weak to grab the line dropped from a helicopter. Hundreds of people were watching, including emergency services personnel, but only Mr. Skutnik was willing to risk his life. Skutnik saw the situation, and stripped off his coat and boots and, in short sleeves, dove into the icy water and swam out to assist her. He succeeded in getting Tirado to the river shore, from where Tirado was subsequently taken to hospital, saving her life.
For this act, Skutnik was invited to attend the 1982 State of the Union address by US President Ronald Reagan on 26 January 1982. He was the first in what has become an annual tradition of notable people being invited to sit in the President's box at the State of the Union address. Skutnik sat next to First Lady Nancy Reagan. Reagan praised Skutnik as follows:

Just two weeks ago, in the midst of a terrible tragedy on the Potomac, we saw again the spirit of American heroism at its finest the heroism of dedicated rescue workers saving crash victims from icy waters.

And we saw the heroism of one of our young Government employees, Lenny Skutnik, who, when he saw a woman lose her grip on the helicopter line, dived into the water and dragged her to safety.

Skutnik received a standing ovation from the entire assembled audience. Since then, others who are invited into the Presidential gallery and honored in the speech have been known among the Washington press corps as "Lenny Skutniks". The Presidential gallery is sometimes referred to as "The Heroes' Gallery".

Among the honours that Skutnik received for his act of heroism are the United States Coast Guard's Gold Lifesaving Medal and the Carnegie Hero Fund Medal. He received 1600 pieces of mail over several weeks after the incident, where a number of them had the address as "Lenny Skutnik, Hero of the Potomac". He also received various public tributes, including two "Lenny Skutnik Days" in Mississippi on 9 February and 10 February 1982. On 3 February 1982, the General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Virginia unanimously passed a resolution in praise of Skutnik's "unselfish act of bravery", with a standing ovation.

As of 2009, Skutnik continues to work for the US government”

This blog concerns the issue of heroism and what makes a hero.

Please leave your comments.

Best - Randy Tessier