914th AW to transport medical and firefighting equipment to Dominican Republic

Published May 2, 2013
By Peter Borys
914th Airlift Wing Public Affairs

NIAGARA FALLS AIR RESERVE STATION, N.Y. -- The city of Rochester, New York has a sister city in the Dominican Republic. Sister Cities is an international program that has cooperative agreements between towns, cities, and countries in geographically and politically distinct areas to promote cultural and commercial ties.

Approximately two and a half years ago twelve members of the Puerto Plata Rochester Sister City Committee went on a fact finding mission to Puerto Plata to determine what their greatest needs were.

"Among the things we discovered was that their firefighters were operating with equipment, materials, and supplies that were from our vantage point outdated and unsafe," said Lee Johnson, Puerto Plata Rochester Sister City Committee Member. "When we returned to Rochester we decided to mount an effort to replace as many of those supplies as we could."

The members conducted a drive where they received huge numbers of firefighting supplies from the Rochester and area fire departments as well as donations from Kodak, Monroe Community College and others.

According to Johnson, all of the equipment is still in good working order, but considered outdated.

"The standards of the U.S. continue to increase and the fire departments have to replace their materials," said Johnson. "They cannot use the older materials because they do not meet code anymore."

The equipment being donated is several generations better than what is used in Puerto Plata and still is in good working order.

"We then discovered that there was a program out there that was run by the Department of State, Department of Defense, and U.S. Aid, called the Denton Program," said Johnson.

The program allows private U.S. citizens and organizations to use space available on U.S. military cargo planes to transport humanitarian goods to countries in need, including: agricultural equipment, clothing, educational supplies, food, medical supplies, and vehicles.

The program was created and established by retired U.S. Senator from Alabama, Jeremiah Denton, Jr. who also was a former Vietnam POW.

Denton's name first came to the attention of the American public in 1966, during a television interview arranged by the North Vietnamese in Hanoi. Prior to the interview, torture and threats of more torture were applied to intimidate him to "respond properly and politely."

During the interview, after the journalist's recitation of alleged U.S. "war atrocities," Denton was asked about his support of U.S. policy concerning the war. He replied: "I don't know what is happening now in Vietnam, because the only news sources I have are North Vietnamese, but whatever the position of my government is, I believe in it, I support it, and I will support it as long as I live."

Throughout the interview, while responding to questions and feigning sensitivity to harsh lighting, Denton blinked his eyes in Morse Code, repeatedly spelling out a covert message: "T-O-R-T-U-R-E." The interview, which was broadcast on American television on May 17, 1966, was the first confirmation that American POWs in Vietnam were being tortured.

Denton was released on February 12, 1973, when he again received international attention as the spokesman for the first group of POWs returning from Hanoi to Clark Air Force Base in the Philippines. As he stepped from the plane, he turned to the microphones and said: "We are honored to have had the opportunity to serve our country under difficult circumstances. We are profoundly grateful to our Commander-in-Chief and to our nation for this day. God bless America."

Chief Master Sgt. Thomas Buschang, 30th Aerial Port Squadron Superintendent, whose members will be loading up the contents on the aircraft, said the ambulance is scheduled to depart Niagara Falls via a Niagara C-130 in late June and go directly to the Dominican Republic.

The other palletized cargo is scheduled to be airlifted via KC-10 aircraft from McGuire Air Force Base N.J. in early June and airlifted to Charleston AFB, Denton Cargo HUB/Staging facility to await further airlift to the Dominican Republic.

The group's goal is to have the firefighting supplies, ambulance and a fire truck delivered to the Dominican where firefighters there have already been trained on the equipment. The ambulance was donated by Rural Metro Ambulance.

Johnson said the interagency cooperation that was involved was unique. "We had city, county government, local fire departments as well as individual citizens who pitched in to help make this happen."

The group is seeking donations to raise enough money to go to an auction to buy a used fire truck for a future flight to the Dominican.

Last year Denton shipped 2.5 million lbs. of cargo to 20 different countries mostly in South & Central America and some in Asia.

News