Three men commended for rescue 30 years ago
Published: December 10, 2007
Retired Lt. Col. Willoughby S. Goin had a decision to make.
Goin and his crew of two other Kentucky National Guardsmen could keep flying through a brutal snowstorm to rescue a 13-year-old girl who had been in an accident or play it safe.
“They wanted to see that little girl rescued if at all possible,” Goin said.
That decision on a blustery night during the brutal winter of 1978 saved the life of Kathy Campbell, who had been dragged 75 yards in the snow after a traffic accident. Last week, Goin, retired Chief Warrant Officer Lloyd Bailey and Master Sgt. Harmon Cross received Kentucky’s highest decoration for their work that night.
The three men were awarded the Kentucky Medal of Valor during ceremonies in Frankfort.
“They put the interests of others before themselves,” Kentucky Adjutant Gen. Donald Storm said in presenting the awards.
Goin piloted an UH-1 “Huey” helicopter through a blinding snowstorm, while low on fuel, to pick up Campbell in Southeastern Kentucky and transport her to Lexington for treatment.
Goin was at home on the evening of Jan. 29, 1978, when he received a call from Dr. Talmage Hayes, a doctor he knew in Pineville. Hayes said Campbell had been badly injured in a crash in which she was dragged about 75 yards.
“He said, ‘She has no feeling below the waist and we really need to get her to Lexington right away,” Goin said.
The winter of 1978 is considered one of Kentucky’s worst, with deep cold and repeated snowstorms that closed schools and paralyzed many areas. Roads were too icy for a ground ambulance to reach Eastern Kentucky that night, and no hospital in the state had a helicopter ambulance at the time.
Goin and his crew mates took the call.
They left at about 8 p.m., with blowing snow cutting the visibility to the point that Goin flew at only 50 knots per hour at times to avoid running into mountaintops.
They reached Middlesboro, where Campbell had been taken, then loaded her on the helicopter and headed for Lexington on a helicopter with no medical equipment.
Cross, the helicopter’s crew chief, had only a small medical kit and he monitored Campbell’s temperature and IVs and try to keep her comfortable.
Goin estimated that when they landed in Lexington, well after midnight, the helicopter had less than 10 gallons of fuel left. The aircraft normally burned 90 gallons an hour, he said.
Kathy Campbell survived and is alive today.
The exploit by the three guard members essentially “fell through the cracks,” Goin said, until Hayes recently decided to push the matter. After he wrote a letter describing the mission, the guard decided to award the three men the Medal for Valor.
If you enjoyed this good news Subscribe to Good News Blog
Share this
To share this simply copy and paste one of the below URL's: