Cannon Airman returns from earthquake-torn Haiti

Published Jan. 19, 2010
By Greg Allen
27th Special Operations Wing Public Affairs

CANNON AIR FORCE BASE, N.M. -- Although earthquakes are nothing unusual for one Airman here who hails from Azusa, Calif., they were the last thing on his mind when he took leave shortly after New Year's Day.

Airman 1st Class Mike Cooksey, 27th Special Operations Equipment Maintenance Squadron, returned to Cannon Jan. 17, a week after a 7.3 magnitude earthquake struck as he stood on the second floor of an adoption center in Port-au-Prince, Haiti.

He said the center was the home for children who had been abandoned and who were waiting, sometimes up to three years, to make it to the United States to their new adoptive parents.

He remembered that he was drinking from a bottle of water when the earthquake struck Jan. 12 at 4:53 p.m. but, "I didn't know what to do when it first hit, whether I should grab a child and jump from the second floor or just stand there."

He was standing out on a balcony when the quake hit and decided to remain there. The building swayed violently, but did not collapse. After the movement subsided he grabbed a child, looked over, saw his sister doing the same thing, and both ran downstairs and out the building into the open driveway below.

Airman Cooksey had taken 15 days of leave, met his sister, Angela, in Miami, Fla., and arrived in Haiti Jan. 4. They were there to visit and help a mutual friend who had gone there on a mission. The Airman arrived with three duffle bags filled with tools and sports equipment; he hoped to contribute in a small way to a better life for a nation of impoverished people.

After the quake the two of them made their way to the American Embassy along with others, where they assisted in triage as the casualties began to mount.

"I saw pretty much everything (in the triage center), amputees, head injuries, bones broken at horrible angles," he said. He splinted the leg of one young girl that was broken at what appeared to be a 45-degree angle.

The one thing that stays in his mind are the mental pictures of some of the people he met, not knowing whether they are alive or injured.

He and his sister left Haiti and arrived at Joint Base McGuire Dix Lakehurst, N. J., Jan. 17. From there they returned home, Mike to Cannon and Angie to Azusa.

Airman Cooksey said his supervisor, Staff Sgt. Tim Lancaster, picked him up when he arrived at the Lubbock airport. He even lent him some clothes.

"They might have fit a couple of weeks ago, but I've lost 15 pounds since that time," said Airman Cooksey.

"A lot of people are asking me about what happened there," Angie said by phone. "All I can say is the people there are so nice and need so much help.

When asked if she would return to Haiti in the future to help, she echoed her brother's response with an unequivocal "Yes."