How do you thank someone for leaving the safety of their home, family and friends to come to a foreign land to fight a monster that's out of control? Truth is I don't know but I'm sure going to try because it came at a very very high price - the cost of three of America's finest men.
More than two hundred American and Canadian firefighters - many from california - traveled to Australia to help us fight bushfires that were out of control threatening properties, businesses, life and limb including millions of acres of vegetation along the way, (not to mention the estimated one billion animals that are now dead, many of which include species under threat of extinction) It takes a brave man to embark on such a call and these guys say it was their duty.
I take of my hat to you and bow my head in respect. You are better than the "BEST OF THE BEST".
They were a welcome sight and arrived to cheers and applause as we breathed in smoke haze for weeks with no end to the bushfires in sight. The fires had already been burning for months before they arrived and had done damage the likes of which we have never seen. They fought alongside our aussie heros for weeks on end as what I can only describe as an heroic effort. I will always be in admiration of you all, you are selfless heroes!
This bushfire season has burnt an estimated 18.6 million hectares (46 million acres; 186,000 square kilometres; 72,000 square miles), destroyed over 5,900 buildings (including 2,779 homes) and killed at least 34 people. Three of which were your very own:
44-year-old Capt. Ian H. McBeth from Great Falls, Montana; 42-year-old First Officer Paul Clyde Hudson from Buckeye, Arizona; and 43-year-old Flight Engineer Rick A. DeMorgan from Navarre, Florida.
McBeth, a former member of the Wyoming Air National Guard and an active member of the Montana Air National Guard, was also a husband and a father to three children.
DeMorgan was a father of two who served 18 years as an engineer on the C-130 in the U.S. Air Force.
Hudson was a veteran who had served for 20 years in the U.S. Marines, reaching the rank of lieutenant colonel before retiring.
There will be many questions unanswered with respect to exactly what happened up there on that fateful day on Jan. 23 in Cooma, Australia but one thing's for certain there WILL to help others will never be in question. RIP young men for we will not forget you and your heroic bravery.
More than two hundred American and Canadian firefighters - many from california - traveled to Australia to help us fight bushfires that were out of control threatening properties, businesses, life and limb including millions of acres of vegetation along the way, (not to mention the estimated one billion animals that are now dead, many of which include species under threat of extinction) It takes a brave man to embark on such a call and these guys say it was their duty.
I take of my hat to you and bow my head in respect. You are better than the "BEST OF THE BEST".
They were a welcome sight and arrived to cheers and applause as we breathed in smoke haze for weeks with no end to the bushfires in sight. The fires had already been burning for months before they arrived and had done damage the likes of which we have never seen. They fought alongside our aussie heros for weeks on end as what I can only describe as an heroic effort. I will always be in admiration of you all, you are selfless heroes!
This bushfire season has burnt an estimated 18.6 million hectares (46 million acres; 186,000 square kilometres; 72,000 square miles), destroyed over 5,900 buildings (including 2,779 homes) and killed at least 34 people. Three of which were your very own:
44-year-old Capt. Ian H. McBeth from Great Falls, Montana; 42-year-old First Officer Paul Clyde Hudson from Buckeye, Arizona; and 43-year-old Flight Engineer Rick A. DeMorgan from Navarre, Florida.
McBeth, a former member of the Wyoming Air National Guard and an active member of the Montana Air National Guard, was also a husband and a father to three children.
DeMorgan was a father of two who served 18 years as an engineer on the C-130 in the U.S. Air Force.
Hudson was a veteran who had served for 20 years in the U.S. Marines, reaching the rank of lieutenant colonel before retiring.
There will be many questions unanswered with respect to exactly what happened up there on that fateful day on Jan. 23 in Cooma, Australia but one thing's for certain there WILL to help others will never be in question. RIP young men for we will not forget you and your heroic bravery.
