BY KAREN ROUSE NorthJersey.com STAFF WRITER

NEW YORK – More than 100 “Good Samaritan” mariners who rescued the passengers and crew of U.S. Airways Flight 1549 were praised today by Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano and Sen. Frank Lautenberg during a ceremony at the New York Waterway Terminal.

They were “in many instances risking their own safety to rescue” the stranded victims, Napolitano said of the group of professional civilian mariners, which included North Jersey residents employed by N.Y. Waterway.

There were two miracles that day, she said – the successful landing of the aircraft, and the rescue that followed. The incident could have been one of tragedy “had this rescue not been carried out with speed, agility and courage,” said Napolitano.

The U. S. Coast Guard, which hosted the ceremony, presented five companies with a Certificate of Merit. Those included Staten Island Ferry and NY Water Taxi.

In addition, Scott Koen of Rutherford was presented with a Coast Guard Meritorious Public Service Award, while the Coast guard Distinguished Public Service Award was presented to NY Waterway founder Arthur E. Imperatore.

Imperatore lavished praise on his employees, including Vincent Lombardi of Fairfield, captain of the Thomas Jefferson, and Capt. Britanny Catanzara, who rescued 26 people on the Thomas Kean vessel. “This is a day of honor for our people,” he said.

http://www.northjersey.com/news/newyorkmetro/goodsamaritans021809.html

Broadside Blog – Bonded by a miracle, Posted by Bacon on February 18th, 2009 filed in Hero of the week

As Scott Koen gunned his engines, heading into the Hudson River and toward the floating Airbus 320, it was as if destiny had put him there.

His boat, an old Coast Guard buoy tender, was one of the first vessels to arrive at the crash scene of US Air flight 1549. Since it was low on the water and had a rotating screw, it was perfectly suited for easing up to one of the wings and boarding survivors. In the end, all 155 passengers and crew members were rescued thanks to a combined effort by several vessels, with no loss of life.

His boat’s participation in the “Miracle on the Hudson” was a final chapter in an extraordinary story marked by bravery, symbolism, and tribute – a story that began on September 11, 2001.

Scott had been the Director of Operations at the Intrepid Museum in New York when terrorists flew two aircraft into the Twin Towers. The event so affected him that he asked his boss what he thought about, “…taking steel from the World Trade Center and actually pouring it into the foundation of ships?” (NorthJersey.com)

The two men approached the Navy about the idea – the CNO agreed, and Scott was tasked with finding the scrap. Governor George Pataki asked that the ship – the fifth vessel in the LPD 17 class – be named USS NEW YORK (LPD 21), and on September 7, 2002 the Secretary of the Navy made it official. The steel from the towers would comprise a portion of her bow – the leading edge of the mighty warship.

Almost three years later, Navy S.E.A.L. LT Michael Murphy died in an intense firefight in Afghanistan while trying to save the lives of his teammates. For his sacrifice, he was awarded the Medal of Honor (see story here). LT Murphy was a New York native who grew up in Patchogue, N.Y. on Long Island. “When he deployed overseas, Murphy carried a patch from New York Fire Department’s Engine Company 53 and Ladder Company 43, in Manhattan’s El Barrio neighborhood, ‘as a symbol of why he was there and what he was doing.’” (Military Times)

Three years later, Scott Koen purchased a boat on eBay. He refitted the old buoy tender, and to honor the Navy’s first Medal of Honor recipient since Vietnam, he christened it M/V LT Michael P. Murphy.

Shortly thereafter, the vessel that bears LT Murphy’s name pulled shaken survivors from the cold waters of the Hudson near the site of the Intrepid Museum. Everyone survived thanks partly to the flying abilities and heroism of the pilot (Captain Chesley Sullenberger, an Air Force veteran who was the last person to leave the sinking aircraft – he checked the aisles twice to be sure everyone had gotten out); and partly to a man who once found scraps of metal from the Twin Towers to be used in a warship built to fight back against terrorism. He skippered a boat named for a man who gave his life doing the same.

Three weeks after the crash, Chris Cuomo of ABC News recounted the skill and composure of Captain Sullenberger, and lauded the speed with which rescue vessels arrived on the scene. He gave his report from the deck of one of those boats – the M/V LT Michael P. Murphy. He ended his report by saying, “The Lieutenant was called to duty one more time…and he helped save lives that day.”

They all did.

http://www.militarytimes.com/blogs/broadside/2009/02/18/bonded-by-a-miracle/

I was warming up my boat, the M/V LT Michael P. Murphy, today at Linclon Harbor Yacht Club, getting it ready for the big freeze tomorrow when I heard a call on the radio “Airplane down in the North River”. I’m figuring a Cessna or the like and I put it full ahead and head out into the river to see if it’s near me. I look to the North and I see a tail sticking out of the water, a big tail, 757 possibly. The aircraft is about a mile away so it takes me a few minutes to get on site. As I approach there are 4 NY Water Way ferries maneuvering to pick up survivors who are both on the wing and in rafts. I have a 46 ft Ex USCG Buoy Tender with a white angled stripe on the side which is low to the water so I pull up beside the cockpit on the right side of the AC and slide aft to pick up victims.

There are 2 men standing on the wing in waist deep water, one is trying to keep the raft from floating away by holding onto the emergency exit and the rafts rope. He is not trying to get on the raft but just protecting the 14 people that are. They look cold wet and shaken. He looks worse. I maneuver back to the wing but I am reluctant to keep my engine in gear in case someone goes in the water, so I have one of the ferries pin me to the side of the aircraft so I can grab the closest man and pull him on board. He says “Thank You” and “Please help the others” and climbs aboard the ferry to get warm. Its difficult for me because I am the only one on my boat, I have to run from the pilothouse to maneuver then aft to assist rescue. As more assets arrive everything is moving up and down with the waves and it gets a little rough.

At this point the ferry and my boat have twisted around and people are getting on his rescue ladder, which is kind of like a cargo net. I abandon my boat and climb aboard the ferry to assist. The hero with the rope finally jumps into the water and slithers aboard the raft. Everyone on board says “him first” so he tries to climb up the ladder. At this point he is extremely hypothermic, his limbs are shaking and he needs help. I climb down beside him and start pulling him up, first by the arms, then the belt. Finally he gets topside. I stay on the net and keep pulling the others up. The raft is moving in and out, I am more worried about someone else going in the water so I let go and wait for the ferry captain to gently nudge us back in. The Coast Guard is on the other side of the raft so it’s now a choice, Warm Ferry with a climb or another raft with a motor. My hands are so cold they quit working and are just claws, but that works in this situation.

As the last victim climbs up I loose my glasses, I can see them below me on the net, I figure, just payment for 150 lives and climb up.

Scott Koen.

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