![]() “It was momentous in their life - very traumatic for all of them.” The crew consisted of “selfless heroes” who didn’t want attention. In fact, the very modesty of the rescuers was one reason the rescue was until recently known to “a very small group,” says author Casey Sherman. ![]() “Bernie was a very humble man and never sought the limelight,” says Jay Stradal, board chair of the Centers for Culture and History in Orleans. “They did it well, fortunately, and a lot of people were saved.” Pierre, the long-time coxswain of the lifeboat CG36500. “These four men never really thought about themselves, they just thought about doing their job,” says Don St. Yet despite his heroism on that harrowing rescue, everyone who knew Webber said he always contended he was just doing his job. Webster co-authored, with Theresa Mitchell Barbo, “The Pendleton Disaster Off Cape Cod” in 2007.īack in 1952, the motto, left over from the days of the Life-Saving Service, the precursor to the Coast Guard, was “You have to go out, but you don’t have to come back.” In 2007, the Coast Guard conducted an internal audit and named the Pendleton rescue the third most significant rescue ever and the greatest small boat rescue of all time, says retired Coast Guard Capt. The 70 years that have passed since that fateful rescue back in 1952 have only deepened our appreciation of what happened that night. “For a very ordinary young man, it was difficult for me to cope with at the time,” he wrote in his 1985 book “Chatham, The Lifeboatmen.” Webber and his three-man crew were later known as the “Gold Crew” after all four were awarded the Coast Guard’s Gold Lifesaving Medals. 18, 1952.īearing the mantle of heroism at the age of 23 was not easy for Webber. Webber was the coxswain of the 36-foot Coast Guard lifeboat CG 36500 that traveled through raging seas at night to save 32 sailors from the stern of the Pendleton, a tanker that broke in two off Chatham on Feb. 70 th Anniversary Of 'Greatest Small Boat Rescue' In Historyįor young people today, the definition might owe something to Bernie Webber.
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