"North Jerseyans aid in heroic rescue
Sunday, March 30, 2008"
(Last updated: Sunday March 30, 2008, 7:00 AM BY MERRY FIRSCHEIN NorthJersey.com STAFF WRITER)

Three North Jersey men, crew members on a Coast Guard ship stationed in Alaska, helped rescue 42 fishermen from an ice-cold sea before dawn last week.

Lt. j.g. Paul Windt of Paramus, Ensign Lee Crusius of Hackensack and Boatswain's Mate 3rd Class Daniel McGrath of West Milford serve on the Coast Guard Cutter Munro, which raced to the Alaska Ranger, a commercial fishing vessel sinking near the Aleutian Islands. The 47 crew members aboard the fishing vessel had abandoned it and were bobbing in the frigid Bering Sea.

Forty-two men from the Alaska Ranger were rescued. Four others, including the captain, perished from hypothermia while waiting for help; one man was missing and presumed dead.

The Munro, which was on patrol in the Bering Sea, received a distress call from the Alaska Ranger at 2:52 Easter morning.

The North Jersey crewmen said in an e-mail Friday they already knew conditions were dangerous and that something was happening.

"Everything on the ship was spilled on the deck, and the previously calm seas were changing to heavy rolls," the men said in a description of the rescue. "Hearing the engines roaring at 2 a.m. is never a good sign."

The distress call said the 184-foot Alaska Ranger had taken on water and was sinking about 120 miles west of Dutch Harbor in the Aleutian chain.

One Coast Guard helicopter plucked survivors — in survival suits and clinging to life rafts — from the pitching sea and flew a half-hour to meet the Munro, which was still under way. Because that helicopter was too large to land on the Munro's deck, Coast Guard rescuers placed the survivors back into baskets and lowered them to safety on the ship's desk. The Munro also sent its own helicopter to pick up survivors.

Windt, the landing signals officer during the rescue, stood on the flight deck and directed the helicopters arriving with survivors.

The churning sea made the rescue even more difficult, the crewmen wrote in the e-mail.

"The major factor was the minus-24-degree wind chill, which took a toll on Lt. j.g. Windt, having been outside for almost four hours ensuring safe helicopter operations involving passage transfer," the men wrote. "He was almost washed overboard two times."

The North Jersey crew members worked hard during the rescue. McGrath was the quartermaster, "ensuring the ship's safe navigation and proper courses for flight operations," they wrote. Crusius served as the helicopter control officer, and was in charge of all helicopter operations, including "in-flight refueling, lowering of personnel by hoist, and landing."

Electronics Technician 2nd Class Lorin Fisher of Jersey City, a fourth crew member from the Garden State, worked the ship's information center, making sure communications went smoothly during the long rescue.

"The faces [of the survivors] were a mix of distress and relief," the men wrote in their e-mail.

"We had them onboard for a few days, and we gave them donations of our clothing and whatever they needed."The biggest thing may have been returning to Dutch Harbor to drop them off and going to the Grand Aleutian; seeing the people we saved wearing Munro hats and T-shirts and smiling with their families. This is basically why we all joined the Coast Guard, to help people."Windt graduated from Paramus High School in 2002, and his parents live in the borough.Crusius graduated from Hackensack High School in 2002 and is active in the school's soccer, basketball, and track and field alumni groups. Crusius' family — parents, sister and grandparents — all live in the city, he said.McGrath graduated from West Milford High School in 2006 and his family lives in the borough. His father is a New Milford police officer.Fisher graduated from St. Mary's High School in Jersey City in 2003. His family lives in Brick Township, Ocean County.The men, who call themselves "The Jersey Boys of USCGC Munro," say they are grateful to their families and friends for supporting them in their Coast Guard careers and in working in Alaska — though they do admit a touch of homesickness for 24-hour diners, White Castle and the Jersey Shore, they wrote.