U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary 4th Division Vice Captain Mike Howell did not have a lot of choices if he were to save his home and Auxiliary Facility, Mañana. Hurricane Katrina was fast approaching, and Mañana, a 53' steel-hulled former Federal Conservation boat, could only do eight to ten knots with its single diesel engine.
Any thoughts of a flight up the Mississippi were quickly dismissed. Going in to the river, Howell later recalled, "I would have been squished like a bug" (by the larger ships being tossed around by the hurricane).
With some old stout lines that given to him by the skipper of the CG Cutter Bonito, Howell secured Mañana to pilings and concrete structures in the open water of the Municipal Yacht Harbor, some 500 meters from Coast Guard Station New Orleans.
Secure in her moorings, the 53-ton facility and her skipper saw yacht after yacht break moorings, with many ricocheting off the facility's sturdy steel sides. Mañana remained unmoved, and her skipper chronicled the fury of the storm from the deck with his camera.
The former Vietnam War helicopter door gunner was not about to be defeated by Mother Nature. And in the days ahead, he and Mañana would make a vital difference to many, and be introduced by Sector New Orleans Coast Guard Commander, Captain Frank Paskewich, to Admiral Thomas Collins, Coast Guard Commandant, as "Our Local Hero".
As Katrina's winds abated, Howell threaded Mañana through the harbor to Station New Orleans. The badly damaged station was without electricity for a time and without potable water. It had been flooded with six to seven feet of water during the storm, but its main concrete structure remained intact.
With the exception of minor cosmetic damage, including some bent one-inch steel rails, Mañana was unscathed from her brush with Katrina. The boat's generator was quickly able to provide the Station with essential power, her radios with communications, and her 2,000 gallon potable water tank with badly needed water. Station New Orleans was back in business.
When Howell arrived at Station New Orleans, he was met by a skeleton crew left behind to safeguard the facility. Gradually active duty personnel, having secured their families from harm's way, trickled in and began the process of righting the station and preparing for the thousands of rescues they would make in the ensuing days.
In the midst of it all, Mañana was their oasis - a haven where they could wash off grime, secure fresh uniforms and take a momentary respite. From the boat's satellite dish, the watch at the Operations Center could catch the news and weary rescuers could take their minds off what they had been seeing in the city by watching a football game on satellite television.
As Tuesday morning dawned, other Auxiliarists began arriving at Station New Orleans to assist.
From Flotilla 4-10 (Baton Rouge, LA) seven members: Auxiliarists Tom McKinstry, Tim Borskey, Terry Mills, Cleve Chandler, Lenny Cappel, Charles Dupuy and Steve Guillory responded, bringing with them two Auxiliary Facilities.
With the sporadic gunfire and other violence in the city, Auxiliary patrols were limited to the waterfront, but there were many other ways the Auxiliarists assisted at a station that was beginning to swell with Coast Guard manpower.
With communications a major challenge for operations, Auxiliarists from several flotillas in the Division 4 pooled their resources and got underway with trucks and a camper. Gerald Schneider, Lenny Kappel, Mike Baker and Bill Wellemeyer traveled to the Leeville High Site and got it operational. They also brought a generator to the Leeville site and helped the U.S. Customs unit there get powered.
For ten days, Auxiliarists Jim Umberger and Bill Wellemeyer worked long hours at the relocated Sector New Orleans Command Post in Alexandria, LA, with Umberger working twelve hour night shifts.
Back at Station New Orleans, Auxiliarist Ed Jackson had arrived on Friday with his Jeep towing his Facility.
Speaking of his passage into the city, Jackson noted that he had to jump a levee with his jeep and boat in tow to make it into the Station. Seeing a need for more potable water, he contacted his son-in-law, the manager of a trucking company, and managed to get 6,000 gallon truckloads of potable water delivered daily to the Station.
With an estimated 400 personnel at the station by then, the truckloads of water could not have started coming at a better time.
Auxiliarist Rand Henke shared with those at Station New Orleans the health dangers of the post-hurricane environment and set up sanitary and hand washing stations and decontamination sites at Station New Orleans.
Auxiliarists Gerald Schneider, Bill Pritchard and Erston and Karen Reisch ran numerous "errands" for Station New Orleans, freeing other personnel for more important tasks.
Auxiliarists C.F. Adams and Mike Brady also assisted as needed.
While all this was happening, Auxiliarists Mike Baker, Bob Hazey, John Buie and Francis Guillory, among others, flew patrols over the Mississippi River, doing verifications of Aids to Navigation and looking for oil and fuel spills. They also transported essential personnel as needed.
Auxiliarist Doug Depp set up a rescue station on the north shore of Lake Pontchartrain, on the Tchefuente River.
Even some who were trapped in their neighborhoods assisted. Auxiliarist Don Diven, unable to get out of his area due to fallen trees, kept a sharp eye on his immediate vicinity from his bicycle.
"I knew Auxiliarists were a special group of people, but I was surprised to discover just how selfless these volunteers really are," said LCDR Jeff Carter, Coast Guard Branch Chief for media relations. "The Coast Guard is richer by their association and so am I."