Air Guardsmen Respond to Car Crash
Story by MSgt Sheri Paplham - Posted Mar, 2002
While voluntarily deployed for Fire Support 2001, members of the 141st Air Refueling Wing were able to put their first-aid training to real use. On the way back from tearing down a fire base camp in the Tieton area (near Yakima), the fourteen-member crew came upon the scene of an accident.
Fourteen-year-old Amber Jesernig and her seventy-three year old grandmother, Glenna, were driving Highway 12 westbound on their way to Westport, Washington from Kennewick. The high school freshman had just completed her orientation and was heading to Westport to meet the rest of her family for a vacation on the coast.
Near Yakima, an explosion signaled the loss of control of their sport utility vehicle. Instead of following the curve of the road, the vehicle continued straight up an embankment and rolled back down. Since Amber had been sleeping in the back of the vehicle, not wearing her seatbelt, she was ejected fifteen feet from the vehicle.
This rolled-over vehicle and an unmoving figure in the roadway was the scene members of the 141st ARW found. Training and genuine human compassion instantly threw them into action. Medical attention and traffic diversion were immediately applied. This quick response and decisive teamwork, according to doctors, helped to minimize the intensity of the young girl’s injuries.
Amber is expected to make a full recovery. She will miss the first two weeks of school and will require one to two months of rehabilitation. Kim Jesernig, Amber’s stepmother, and the entire family wish to express their sincere gratitude to the following members of the 141st ARW:
| Lt Col
Bob Aunan SMSgt Dave Clouse SMSgt Charlie Cinq-Mars MSgt Dan Perry MSgt Kelly Willquette MSgt James Voelker MSgt Brent Malakowsky TSgt Kelly Sonnabend |
TSgt Ted Pfaff TSgt Walt Brewer TSgt Steven Olander TSgt David Burts TSgt Gene Peterson TSgt Daniel Lague SSgt Stephen Strieb SSgt Kevin Borden |
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