I lost a Good Friend & We lost a Great American

[sailsmen]

Captain Mike Howell passed away Saturday nite as a result of complications from surgery. Mike received the Distinguised Flying Cross and Air Medal for Heroism.

Mike also received a commendation from the Director of the FBI for working undercover as a civilian resutling in stopping a plot to over throw Dominica. It was known as "Operation Red Dog" or "Bayou of Pigs". Mike was a client at the time and I was doing some work for him. One day I went aboard his work vessel and an investigative reporter was badgering Mike to talk. All Mike would say is I will tell you in two weeks, and boy was there a lot to tell.

His work vessel was named "Manana". I remember when he bought her and she was a rust bucket. I worked for him for a few weeks getting her back in shape. He got her together and worked her for years, conducting many rescue operations including the Mariel Boat Lift. A book "Finding Manana" was written by a Cuban refugee who had passage by Mike. His web site with the citations and pics Manana.com

In Mike's own words -
"Since April 13, 1967 I have wanted to thank a lady (nurse or doctor) who overrode the rest of the trauma room in an aid station in the tri-border area of Vietnam at the 25th Division and "wasted the blood" to save my life.


A light fire team of two armed helicopters attacked between a battalion and a regiment of NVA regulars across the border in Cambodia. Since we were not supposed to be in that area disturbing the NVAs' Rest and Relaxation the Air Force was not able to help us destroy this huge enemy force. I was severely wounded on that date while operating as a door gunner on my UH-1C Armed Helicopter. My left arm was shattered, a bullet pierced my left leg, shrapnel hit several other places and I bled to death. My crew chief, although wounded himself, bought me more time by holding my artery during the 15-minute flight back to Dau Teang (SP? tri-border area). Our ship was 40% destroyed and the Exhaust Gas Temperature (EGT) was all the way in the red but the pilots kept flying in order to get me to the aid station. Huey helicopters do not fly well when damaged and when the engine is on fire but this one got me to the aid station. When we attempted to land the helicopter we really couldn’t land properly because my side was destroyed so we actually hovered touching the ground while the medics loaded me on a stretcher. The violent wind from the rotor blades caused the medics to drop me off of the stretcher on my face on the ground. At that point I stopped breathing, they reloaded me onto the stretcher and brought me into the aid station. I could still hear, see peripherally and was aware of what was going on in the room but I could make no sign that I was present. A male voice said, "don’t waste the blood on him" …I’m thinking; waste the blood, waste the blood. A female voice says; bull ****! Cut him down, I’ll take his legs you do his arm. I felt much better when she took charge, but I soon became unconscious and was moved along the medical line never able to thank her for taking that stand.

For my combat action in Vietnam I was awarded two purple hearts, the Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC), Air Medal with "V" Device, Army Commendation Medal with "V" Device and several other combat medals including the Vietnam Cross of Gallantry with Silver Star. I am going to include a couple of the citations so that you can see for your self what I did as a kid over there. Since Vietnam I have had a great life and have even worked undercover as the central figure to stop the invasion of Dominica by the KKK and Neo-Nazis, (which was prior to Grenada). The fact that the US immediately released all information that we gathered to the Prime Minister and cooperated with their investigation certainly helped set the stage for further trust and cooperation. That Prime Minister was Eugenia Charles who stood next to President Regan when they announced the liberation of Grenada. My boat and I also worked with ATF on an automatic weapons seizure and the FBI on crude oil theft. The Manana and I do Coast Guard Auxiliary tasks such as Helicopter training operations, search and rescue operations, Marine Law Enforcement training platform And have received several awards and medals for this work.

Please check my web site, www.manana.com. This will let you see what I do with my vessel Manana. We start an archeological expedition in September or November, which I will send you information on as it develops and as the people in charge allow.

I am not trying to make this about me, rather, I want simply to speak to this lady who literally had my life in her heart and hands and acted to help me even though it looked like it might be a waste of time and blood. I have tried not to waste my life and have accomplished a few good things. I can really identify with "Private Ryan" in the movie as he stood over the captains’ grave and tried to reconcile his feelings for being saved. I want to share my feelings to this lady while we are both still alive.

If anyone might be interested in helping me find and thank this lady for her role in saving my life. please help me find her so I can thank her and let her know that we have affected Western Hemisphere politics for the better (Dominica and Granada), among other good things.

All of the above statements are true and I have some pictures and video and a lot more information available. In April and May the New York Times, LA Times, Toronto and other Canadian newspapers, a portion of a documentary in several languages by Information Films of Toronto about Mercenaries produced later in 1981. I have many interviews on video because this was a fairly interesting operation.

Best Regards,

Mike Howell"

[sailsmen]

From Wikki - "On April 27, 1981, Droege and eight other men, including Canadian James Alexander McQuirter and American Don Black, who later founded the white nationalist website Stormfront, were arrested by federal agents in New Orleans as they prepared to board a boat with automatic weapons, shotguns, rifles, handguns, dynamite, ammunition, and a black and white Nazi flag.

The plan was to charter a boat to Dominica and rendezvous via rubber boats with John and his makeshift army. The genesis of the idea came from long-time Klan member Perdue, who was introduced in 1979 to Droege through David Duke. That summer, Perdue outlined his plan to overthrow Grenada and to set up several lucrative businesses. After their meeting, it was established that Droege would locate funds and resources. Duke initially involved Canadian Don Andrews, but after Perdue changed the target island to Dominica, Andrews withdrew. Klansmen Arnie Polli and Roger Dermee were paid US $3,000 to visit Dominica to obtain preliminary reconnaissance. Canadian neo-Nazi Martin K. Weiche was allegedly a financial backer of the plot along with James White of Houston and L. E. Matthews of Jackson, Mississippi.[4]

In February 1981, the captain and crew Duke had arranged for backed out. Perdue then approached a local boat captain and Vietnam War veteran, Michael S. Howell. Perdue said the Central Intelligence Agency needed his boat for a covert operation. Howell then contacted the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF). On April 25, John was arrested in Dominica. When Perdue learned of the arrest and that their plans were no longer secret, he insisted that the mission should continue. On April 27, the group, including three ATF agents, met at the predetermined location, loaded the van and proceeded to the marina. Local police were waiting for them at the marina.

In 1984, during an interview by Barbados's daily Nation Newspaper Sydney Burnett-Alleyne was asked if the group had planned to overthrow the government of Barbados and install John as prime minister there as well. He responded:

He could have become prime minister, although that was not the real reason behind my plan of action. I wanted to add the land mass of Dominica to that of Barbados and also to be able to undertake an industrial project of considerable size. South African resources, millions of dollars, were available to me to be used for such a project. But Patrick John didn't do what was supposed to have done. But more than that, I became incensed when I found out he was giving away Dominican land to Americans. He lost an important opportunity to be a central figure in the history of the Caribbean.[5]
A book about the plot, by Canadian journalist Stewart Bell, was published in August 2008.[6]"

Pic of Mike in ATF after the arrest;
http://www.mercurymarauder.net/gallery/data/500/medium/MHowell.jpg

[sailsmen]

"Finding Manana: A Memoir of a Cuban Exodus
by Mirta Ojito

MEMOIR
New York Times reporter Mirta Ojito melds the personal with the political in a moving account of her family's departure from Cuba. She also provides a solid historical context for those five months in 1980 when 125,000 Cubans arrived in Florida, a mass exodus that came to be known as the Mariel boat lift. Ojito was 16 at the time, but her family had been attempting to leave Cuba for as long as she could remember. Her parents were tagged gusanos, or worms, for wanting to leave and were allowed to do so under Castro's plan to flood America with Cuban refugees. Finally, the cramped journey transpired--on a boat called Manana, captained by a one-armed man. Ojito's stirring memories alternate with widerview chapters on the boat lift's major figures that can take on a text-book-like tone. But for the most part Ojito integrates the multiple angles expertly and renders the past vividly in a fitting marker for the event's 25th anniversary."

[TAKEDOWN]

Wow! Definitely a great man wish I was able to shake his hand, In my opinion he lived life with so many adventures that's out of the ordinary. You're right we lost a great American, may he rest in peace.

[05crownsport]

A true hero. May he rest in peace.

[rayjay]

May he rest in peace.

[TJCOX]

And I thought I had it bad! Rest in Peace and Thanks for your service, my fellow Veteran.