August 3,  2009




The Chicamacomico Life-Saving Station Museum Complex will be holding its fourth annual American Heroes Day on Thursday, Aug. 6, from 10 a.m. until 3 p.m. in the village of Rodanthe.

Chicamacomico was part of the United States Life-Saving Service (USLSS) and was the first station built in North Carolina.  The original station, dating from 1874, is still on the site as one of eight buildings belonging to the Chicamacomico Historical Association.  The men of the United States Life-Saving Service (1871-1915) were the original rescue heroes, the “storm warriors” who made dramatic and heroic rescues of shipwreck victims whose lives were in peril from the sea. In their history, nationwide, the USLSS’s rate of success was 99.2 percent, while their own loss of life, usually under the worst possible conditions, was less than one per cent.  Heroes indeed.  In 1915, this service merged with the U.S. Revenue Cutter Service to form the United States Coast Guard whose members  routinely continues this tradition of heroism.

With that inspiration, Chicamacomico decided to honor and celebrate true American heroes of the past and the present.  Participants invited include the U.S. Coast Guard, U.S. Navy,  Coast Guard Auxiliary, local volunteer fire departments, N.C. Highway Patrol, local sheriff and police departments, local Emergency Medical Service units and ocean rescue squads, National Park Service Cape Hatteras National Seashore,  Outer Banks Lighthouse Society, the Frisco Native American Museum, and perhaps some last-minute surprises.  Equipment on display and/or in use includes fire engines, ambulances, police cars, Coast Guard helicopters, rescue boats, and others. There will be numerous displays, demonstrations, and exhibits as well as hands-on activities and participation events. See Schedule of Events (below) for details. 

Any one of the “one-time events’ is worth the price of admission.  The Search and Rescue Demo could be straight from the movie “The Guardian.”  A Coast Guard 47-foot motor life boat will be in the ocean off Chicamacomico’s beach.  It plays the role of a vessel in distress with a man overboard.  An HH-60 Jayhawk helicopter arrives, circles, locates “victim” in the water, hovers, and then a rescue swimmer jumps from the helo into the ocean!  Then he assists the victim into the basket and is hoisted into the Jayhawk and whisked away to safety! Three different methods are demonstrated.

The Jet-Ski water rescue is another simulation.  There are professionally trained local volunteers who can be on the scene of a water rescue in a dramatically short amount of time.

The Beach Apparatus Drill is a historic re-enactment of a rescue method used by the U.S. Life-Saving Service.  It involves a large two-wheeled cart filled with lifesaving equipment or “apparatus,” the firing a projectile with a  black-powder cannon to get lines to a stricken ship (the “wreck pole” in the drill simulates the mast of a ship) and then sending out equipment to save the lives of those on board, one soul at a time. 

The Beach Apparatus Drill, commonly referred to as the Breaches Buoy Re-enactment, has long been Chicamacomico’s most popular program.  Chicamacomico is the only place in the nation to do the full drill re-enactment on a regular basis! And to top it off, the drill teams are all volunteers of active-duty U.S. Coast Guard personnel. It is performed every Thursday at 2 p.m. during the summer.  

And for the flyover at the closing event, at press time it was unconfirmed how many F-18s there would be. A formation was requested.  So stick around to the very end for more surprises!

“All of these organizations are heroic to us,” said James Charlet, site manager. “Some are obvious by saving lives, but others are saving history nature or culture.  All selflessly serve the public like the Life-Saving Service did.  And, unfortunately, also like the Life-Saving Service, they do not always get the public recognition they deserve.

“So, American Heroes of today, the Heroes of the Past salute you.  Many thanks for carrying on such an essential and positive time-honored tradition.”

This is a fund-raising event for the non-profit Chicamacomico Historical Association so that it may continue these kinds of events and keep the history of heroes alive.

Admission fees are a flat $5 per person.  Children 5 and under are free. Chicamacomico’s seven-acre site will be filled with equipment and displays of the participants, so parking will be across the street. Carpooling is encouraged.

For additional information, contact the Chicamacomico Life-Saving Station at PO Box 5, Rodanthe, NC 27968 or by phone at (252) 987-1552, or email clss@embarqmail.com .  Visit the Web site at www.chicamacomico.net to learn more about the organization and see a write-up about previous year’s events.

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