Reserve unit honors fallen Airman

  • Published
  • 920th Rescue Wing P
PATRICK AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. --  The 920th Rescue Wing paid tribute to a pararescueman who died in the line of duty by naming a new building here in his memory during a ceremony at the Base Theater today.

Staff Sgt. Douglas Eccleston was killed Dec. 7, 2001, during a rescue mission off Bermuda when his inflatable raft capsized while leaving the 600-foot supertanker Alam Belia, where he and a 920th Rescue Wing team treated a critically-ill crewman. He was the first 920th member to die during a rescue.

The wing's new parachute-rigging facility, completed in 2007, was officially re-designated as the Eccleston Pararescue Facility during the ceremony.

Sergeant Eccleston and eight others left Patrick AFB Dec. 7 on an HC-130P/N aircraft headed for the Alam Belia approximately 200 miles southeast of Bermuda. The wing had been asked to send a team of pararescuemen to provide medical attention for a Philippine sailor on the tanker.

After parachuting from the HC-130 into the Atlantic, Sergeant Eccleston and two other PJs inflated a zodiac boat, sped to the tanker and climbed a ladder to board the vessel while a crane on the tanker hoisted their zodiac onto the deck.

Pararescue training includes 22 weeks learning how to manage trauma patients prior to evacuation and provide emergency medical treatment, and the three PJs were able to stabilize the Philippine crewman and accompany him to Bermuda onboard the Alam Belia.

Once the patient was transferred to shore on a smaller vessel, Eccleston and the two other PJs, Tech. Sgt. Mitch Vance and Tech. Sgt. Mike Ziegler, prepared the zodiac for the trip ashore.

Sergeants Eccleston and Vance were onboard the craft as it was lowered to the ocean. But the zodiac flipped--throwing both men into the water.

Sergeant Vance was recovered almost immediately and sustained no serious injuries, but it took rescuers three hours to find Sergeant Eccleston's body.

Before leaving for the mission that would take his life, Eccleston called his wife, Stacie, to tell her how excited he was to be going on a mission that would involve his first rescue jump.

"I'll cherish that phone call forever," she said. "He called me on the phone and told me, 'There's a guy dying out there. I'm going to save him Stace. I love you. I love you. I love you. I'll see you soon.' That was the last I heard from him."

Sergeant Ziegler and Eccleston had been friends since the two entered the Air Force together 15 years before. The two friends spoke briefly on the deck of the Alam Belia shortly before the fatal accident.

"We just stood there on the tanker, and I said, 'Damn dude, who would've ever thought we'd be here together saving lives,'" said Sergeant Ziegler. "We slapped knuckles and both said, 'I love you bro.' Then, as quick as you can count to five, it was all over."

More than 400 family members and friends gathered on a local beach for a memorial service a week after Doug's death. The service culminated with six of Doug's fellow Airmen and surfing buddies paddling their surfboards to a buoy some 200 yards away, casting a wreath in their friend's honor and surfing back to shore.

A week later, Florida Congressman Dave Weldon (now retired) commemorated the fallen PJ in a speech before the state House of Representatives. The congressman called Eccleston "heroic," and recited the awards Doug had received during his career.

"We will all miss him," said Congressman Weldon. "Doug Eccleston is a true hero."