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American Morning
EP-3 Crewmembers Receive Awards from Military
Aired May 18, 2001 - 10:15 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Their ordeal sparked a renewed sense of patriotism among many Americans and today the 24 member crew of that downed U.S. spy plane are being honored as trued American heroes.
CNN's Jeanne Meserve has more now from Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland, which is the site of today's ceremony -- Jeanne.
JEANNE MESERVE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Leon, good morning. As you can see, the pomp and pageantry are already underway here at Andrews Air Force Base, where each and every member of that EP-3 crew is going to be decorated today by Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and also Chairman of the Joint Chiefs General Hugh Shelton. With me here today is Vice Admiral Dennis McGinn. Thanks so much for joining us.
VICE ADMIRAL DENNIS MCGINN, U.S. NAVY: Good morning, Jeanne.
MESERVE: Of the U.S. Navy. Now, you happen to have a distinguished flying medal on your chest. That's what Lieutenant Shane Osborn is going to get today.
MCGINN: Yes.
MESERVE: Who gets this? What does it signify?
MCGINN: It is a recognition of distinguished accomplishment while in aerial flight and what Shane Osborn and his crew did certainly was distinguished in saving that airplane and being able to get it on the deck safely, just an absolutely superb example of airmanship, of crew coordination, of judgment.
MESERVE: You're a pilot yourself. Just how remarkable was Lieutenant Osborn's performance?
MCGINN: It truly was remarkable. The EP-3 airplane, which you can see behind us, is not a fighter airplane, yet because of the impact of the collision, the loss of an engine, the loss of controls they found themselves suddenly nearly inverted, nearly upside down, rapidly descending towards the South China Sea.
MESERVE: Let's pause for a moment for the national anthem.
UNIDENTIFIED MILITARY OFFICIAL: Please be seated.
MESERVE: And there you see the 24 members of the EP-3 crew lined up here on the tarmac at Andrews Air Force Base, about to be decorated for their performance. That plane, you'll recall, was in a collision with a Chinese fighter aircraft. It was badly damaged. The pilot, Lieutenant Shane Osborn, brought it in for a safe landing at Hainan Island in China. The crew was held in captivity there for 11 days before it was released.
Admiral McGinn, the Distinguished Flying Medal is not the only award being given today. Two people are going to get the Meritorious Service Medal. Tell us about that one.
MCGINN: That's right. The two people being recognized are Shane Osborn, as the aircraft commander, the officer, senior ranking officer in charge of the entire mission, and the senior enlisted man, Senior Chief Nick Mellos. They are being awarded the Meritorious Service Medal for the great leadership and professionalism they displayed in taking that crew through the detention period once they were on the ground.
MESERVE: And there we see General Hugh Shelton.
UNIDENTIFIED MILITARY OFFICIAL: The Meritorious Service Medal is awarded to Senior Chief Aviation Mechanist Nicholas A. Mellos. He is also receiving the Air Medal for superb airmanship and courage. The Air Medal is awarded to Lieutenant Patrick C. Honeck.
MESERVE: They are moving down the line pinning the decorations on the members of the crew. The Air Medal being given to 22 members of this crew, tell us about that.
MCGINN: The Air Medal is awarded to members of the armed services for extraordinary performance while engaged in aerial operations. And in the case of this crew, all of them pulled together after the emergency. They were able to get the aircraft under control, safely headed towards the nearest suitable field and conduct all of the necessary emergency destruction procedures to take care of the security of the airplane.
MESERVE: Admiral, I'm curious, when the military was considering whether to give these decorations, did they think about how this would be viewed by the Chinese government?
MCGINN: We simply wanted to honor the tremendous performance of this crew, Jeanne, and that was the criteria for, by which we decided to award these medals to this fine crew.
MESERVE: The backdrop for all of this, an EP-3, this one also from Whidbey Island, where the other EP-3 was based.
MCGINN: Yes.
MESERVE: Very interesting how it came to be here. Tell us that story.
MCGINN: Absolutely. The aircraft that's behind us belongs to VQ-1 based at Whidbey Island, the squadron that the incident aircraft was from. And it was flown in here the day before yesterday by Lieutenant Shane Osborn. So he is back in the air and loving every minute of it.
MESERVE: When did he start flying again?
MCGINN: He started earlier in the week. He got back into what we call a warm-up flight with another crew. It was nice that five of the crew, including, of the incident crew, including Shane Osborn, were able to get in that warm up airplane together and to go through the procedures again. Shane told me a while ago that it felt very, very comfortable to get back into the procedures, the checklists, and it felt really good.
MESERVE: This Distinguished Flying Medal that he is receiving today, what will this mean for his military career?
MCGINN: I think it'll be a recognition of the superb performance, of leadership, airmanship, judgment, courage under a tremendous amount of pressure, literally not knowing whether he and his crew are going to live or die. But he handled it beautifully and I think this is a great recognition for it.
MESERVE: He has begun flying again. Is it probable, is it certain that he will again fly surveillance missions off the coast of China?
MCGINN: He's going to remain in VQ-1. He's a great aircraft commander, a tremendous pilot, obviously, and he will continue to do whatever missions are assigned to VQ-1.
MESERVE: And that could include surveillance off the coast of China?
MCGINN: Yes, it could.
MESERVE: OK. And you mentioned to me that there is a transfer in his future, however.
MCGINN: There's a transfer in the future of Senior Chief Nick Mellos. He is going to be transferred to Jacksonville, Florida to VP- 16. That's a patrol squadron that operates the P-3, we call it the P- 3C airplane that does anti-submarine warfare, anti-surface warfare and surveillance and reconnaissance.
MESERVE: And what's ahead for the rest of the crew, do you know?
MCGINN: They will go back to various assignments. Many of them, of course, will stay with VQ-1 in Whidbey Island. Others will be transferred in the normal rotational pattern for career development and in many cases they'll be transferred to shore billets.
MESERVE: Now, this EP-3 is here as a backdrop for this ceremony, but then it's going to be moved on the tarmac up to be part of the open house here at Andrews Air Force Base?
MCGINN: That's right. People will be able to come out and take a look, meet the crew members. The various members of the crew will be with the EP-3 during the entire Armed Forces Day air show here at Andrews.
MESERVE: But the public is not going to have the sort of access the Chinese have had to the EP-3 on Hainan Island, correct?
MCGINN: I don't anticipate they will.
MESERVE: And there we go. And the medals have been pinned. Earlier today, this crew was at the White House. They were received there by President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney. The president welcomed them, thanked them for a job well done, also told them that he was still working on getting their plane back from the Chinese.
In just a few moments, we're going to hear -- there's some footage, we see, of the president greeting the crew in the Oval Office this morning. He had recognized Lieutenant Shane Osborn and also Senior Chief Nicholas Mellos once before at a press dinner here in Washington, D.C.
But today was the first day that they had gone to the White House and the entire crew was able to be there and meet with the president. We're expecting some members of the cabinet to speak shortly. Secretary Norm Mineta, Secretary of Transportation will be speaking, also, Donald Rumsfeld will also be making some remarks here. We expect them to begin at just about any moment -- Donna, for the moment back to you in Atlanta.
DONNA KELLEY, CNN ANCHOR: All right, Jeanne Meserve, thanks very much.
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