Caps humbly doffed, please
Up to the neck as we all are right now in the rancid sewer that is Democrat politics as usual, a little perspective seems in order:
SAN DIEGO, California (CNN) — A Korean immigrant who lost his wife, two children and mother-in-law when a Marine Corps jet slammed into the family’s house said Tuesday he did not blame the pilot, who ejected and survived.
“Please pray for him not to suffer from this accident,” a distraught Dong Yun Yoon told reporters gathered near the site of Monday’s crash of an F/A-18D jet in San Diego’s University City community.
“He is one of our treasures for the country,” Yoon said in accented English punctuated by long pauses while he tried to maintain his composure.
“I don’t blame him. I don’t have any hard feelings. I know he did everything he could,” said Yoon, flanked by members of San Diego’s Korean community, relatives and members from the family’s church.
Would that I myself could be so magnanimous in the face of unspeakable tragedy. Would that we all could.
Yoon named the victims as his infant daughter Rachel, who was born less than two months ago; his 15-month-old daughter Grace; his wife, Young Mi Yoon, 36; and her 60-year-old mother, Suk Im Kim, who he said had come to the United States from Korea recently to help take care of the children.
Fighting back tears, he said of his daughters: “I cannot believe that they are not here right now.”
“I know there are many people who have experienced more terrible things,” Yoon said. “But, please, tell me how to do it. I don’t know what to do.”
I’m speechless, and I have nothing of any real value to offer but my sincerest condolences, as insignificant as that feels to me. Bless you, sir, and the rest of your family; may you find some relief from your pain and grief as soon as may be. My heart truly aches for you, and I wish I could provide some more meaningful comfort. But your courage and generosity of spirit ought at least to be an inspiration to everyone. You have my deepest respect and admiration, and I have no doubt that every last reader here feels the same.
(Via Bill)
Update! Malkin has the address of Yoon’s church, where you can send condolences or any kind of assistance you may be able to offer:
Dong Yun Yoon
c/o Rev. Kevin Lee
Korean United Methodist Church
3520 Mount Acadia Blvd
San Diego, CA 92111
Do what you can, and do it now.
- Entries
Very much so.
I cried when I saw the press conference. I couldn't imagine being in that type of a situation where I go to work in the morning and then can't go home because my house is gone, my wife and her mother are gone, my children are gone. And for this man to put his faith in God when all that he holds dear has been so cruelly torn away is remarkable. To ask foregiveness of the pilot shows such incredible character, that I really feel unworthy in such presence.
When one door closes, another opens. Such grace in the face of horrible pain is one of the things that I will never forget. Maybe it will help all of us to be better people. May God bless Dong, even though it is hard to imagine how any blessing could help. I simply hope that one day his heart will heal enough to somehow carry on/
I took a look round to see if I could find a way of either contacting him directly or expressing condolences in a forum where he'd be sure to see it, and take what solace is possible from it. If anyone else knows of anything along those lines, please let me know. When I lost my wife a year and a half ago, the messages of sympathy and support I got from all over the 'sphere meant a lot more to me than you might think, and are still a comfort even today. The very least I could do is offer this fine young man the same support as I got, it seems to me.
I will try to contact his church today and will follow up once I know more. I remember the outpouring of support when you lost Christiana and I'm glad that it provided some solace. Good on you to try to give back. And I agree that what comfort we can give, must be shared. We owe our neighbors no less.
Did he have any control left of the plane when he ejected?
Would you leap from your car if the brakes failed and it was heading downhill into a crowd?
The poor man lost his family as a result.
I grieve for him.
Please don't be too hasty to point a finger at the pilot. They're human like the rest of us and subject to the same weaknesses, including bad judgment and even cowardice, but the Navy doesn't generally hand you the keys to a Hornet and sling you off the deck of a carrier for being an addle-brained wuss.
The investigation will take its course and we'll be able to find out the exact circumstances in due time.
Not to imply equivalence here, but this Marine is going to be haunted by this horror for the rest of his life, just as Dong Yun Yoon will be. I find your kneejerk implication that he was culpably negligent near despicable. It's certainly possible -- remotely -- that he was, but given what I know about Marines, I consider it damned unlikely. Evidently, my expressed wish that we could all be so magnanimous as Dong Yun Yoon in the face of tragedy was a waste of pixels, and a pipe dream.
Your questions will be answered in good time. Until then, it'd be nice if you could find it in yourself to grant the pilot the same assumption of humanity that Dong Yun Yoon had the remarkable grace and strength of character to.
Eh? Where do you think Marines land their F-18s, when they're at sea?
When they make me Emperor, one of the things I'm going to require is that every airport maintain a small staff with a pickup truck. Their job will be to go around the operating area looking for a stone upon a stone, two sticks nailed together, or a hole not made by an animal, and when they find it, to put up a sign: THERE IS AN AIRPORT NEARBY. AIRPLANES ARE NOISY, AND SOMETIMES THEY CRASH. When the damned developers tear the sign down, the airport construction crew will come out and erect another one, ten feet tall on a steel pole buried in concrete.
Regards,
Ric
As far as the pilot's actions, we should of course wait until the investigation finds whether he behaved correctly, but if I had to guess, I would assume he did. I would hate to test my own sense of self-preservation against the safety of others in such a frightening situation, but I am pretty sure most Marines would have faced that challenge, and met it, many times before.
As for the pilot it appears at first blush that the guy waited until the very last second to eject from the jet. that meant he was struggling almost to the last to try and hold it together. Regardless of that it does amaze me that the guy who lost his entire family is more considerate of the pilot than John.
Mike, post info when you get it and I'll help get the PW people involved in expressing our condolences.
Again, I whole heartedly second Ric's comment. IF anyone is to blame for this tragedy, it is the real estate community.
Answer: they're Marines, they land anywhere they damn well please.
Seriously, though, I thought all the Marine fixed-wing aviation with the exception of Harriers was land-based. Correction noted.
I work with a guy who used to be a carrier-based F-18 mechanic; jarhead. I could ask him. Closest I ever get to the things is targeting systems, really.
Ship's company Marines, guards for nukes and the like, are directly under the captain, but the air group has a separate command structure.
Regards,
Ric
As for Mr. Yoon, I cannot possibly imagine what it must be like to go through what he is experiencing. And then to be so gracious on top of it.... I can only hope that, Heaven forbid, I should ever experience that kind of loss that I can be even a tenth, a hundredth, as much.
John
The pilot knew exactly where he was. From the reports, he was trying to aim for a ravine near the crash site. He was trying to make it home on one engine. If he lost the second one, he was sitting in a 20 million dollar brick; no power and probably no hydraulics to manage the controls. To use a very, very sad phrase, "He almost made it".
A friend of my son's had to eject over the buffer zone east of Miramar a while back. He left the aircraft at nine hundred feet (600 feet mimimum safe ejection altitude) and inverted 110 degrees from vertical. The inquiry will determine the facts in this incident but these aviators are trained to do every thing they know how to control the aircraft and hopefully save it, before ejecting. My bet is that this pilot did just that and only punched out when there was nothing left to do.
I am in awe of my son and the other men and women who fly our military aircraft. They readily accept enormous responsibilities of life and death the average civilian can't imagine; for themselves, for those they are responsible for protecting, and for innocents who may become involved through no fault of their own. This kind of accident is their worst nightmare but they still fly accepting the possibility that it may occur.
That being said, I am also in awe of Mr. Yoon. All I can say is "God bless you and bring you peace."
Answering a few technical questions:
1) All Marine F/A18 pilots are carrier qualified.
2) Marine F/A18-C (single seat) squadrons are regularly deployed to carrier air wings. D's are not.
GM, is that you?