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The Humboldt Bay Memorial, dedicated to Sublieutennant Allen Alltree (RCN) and the crew of Coast-Guard 1363.

May 31st, 2010, a group of veterans from the Royal Canadian Navy gathered with American Servicemen at the Coast Guard Air Station in McKinleyville.  They came to present a photograph of Lieutennant Allen Alltree, who died on a rescue mission during the historic Eel River Flood of 1964 when his helicopter crashed near Trinidad.

“We all graduated from HMC Asventure, a naval college, class of 1961,” recalled Captain Wilfred Lund (Ret.) of the Royal Canadian Navy. “Sublieutennant Alltree was a classmate of ours. He was flying with the US Coast Guard, on exchange.  He was killed in an incident when flight 1363 crashed here on the 22nd of december, 1964.”

Lieutennant Todd Vorenkamp, a public affairs officer for the Coast Guard, has a more historical account of the event.

“The Humboldt County Sheriffs office requested that the coast guard fly a helicopter up from San Francisco to help evacuate some folks down off the Eel River,” said Vorenkamp.  “The crew had saved about twenty people that day, they grabbed another four folks off of Cockrobbin Island.  Previous to the accident they had been landing folks at the Ferndale Fairgrounds, but the weather had set in so they were forced to fly up to Arcata and land at the airport here. They flew up the coast, got towards the airport, the lights here were out because of a power outage and they realized they’d flown past the airport.  They made a turn back towards the airport, and ended up getting blown (because of the stiff winds) into the side of a mountain near Trinidad.  Unforunately all three crewman on the helicopter were killed, as well as the five people on the back of the aircraft they’d just rescued.”

Today, the Air Station in McKinleyville is home to the Humboldt Bay Memorial, which commemorates the sacrifice made by Alltree’s crew as well as two other incidents which claimed the lives of coastguard crews here on California’s North Coast.

“At the coast guard we draw inspiration from those who have come before us,” Vorenkamp says. “Especially those who gave their lives in the line of service.  These guys died saving someone’s life, which is about as heroic as you can get.”

The commemoration concluded with the presentation of a framed photograph of Alltree, and a moment of silence for the crew of helicopter 1363.

~Dave Brooksher

This piece was commissioned by and produced for KMUD-News (www.kmud.org).  You can find a streaming MP3 by following the link below.

http://drop.io/davebrooksher/asset/uscg-memorial-with-royal-canadian-navy-mp3