Pathfinder
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Family of major missing in Haiti clings to hope
By Michael Hoffman - Staff writer
Posted : Saturday Jan 30, 2010 9:22:22 EST
Peggy Bourland knows the human body can only survive so much, but still she hopes desperately her husband will be found alive under the rubble in Haiti.
Maj. Ken Bourland has been missing since Jan. 12, when a 7.0-magnitude earthquake leveled Port-au-Prince, capital of the island nation. He and six other members of U.S. Southern Command had flown to Haiti on the day of the earthquake to attend a disaster relief conference.
Bourland, a career UH-1 Huey pilot and the Caribbean desk officer at the command’s headquarters in Miami, and his colleagues were staying at Hotel Montana, a popular tourist destination. The others in the Southern Command contingent, including deputy director Lt. Gen. Ken Keen, suffered only minor injuries.
In a Jan. 27 telephone interview, Peggy Bourland told Air Force Times that she refuses to think about the passing days and what they could mean.
“I still keep in my mind blocking it out,” Peggy Bourland said from the family’s home in suburban Miami. “I don’t want to go there until I am told I have to, but every once in awhile when I have my moments, I have to start thinking about him. I guess maybe I am not ready to accept it.”
As of Jan. 28, at least three U.S. military rescue teams continued to search for survivors at Hotel Montana, according to Peggy Bourland. The Air Force, however, could not tell her how much longer rescue operations would continue. The Haitian government ended its rescue operations Jan. 23.
Read more at:
http://www.airforcetimes.com/news/2010/01/airforce_haiti_missing_major_012910/
By Michael Hoffman - Staff writer
Posted : Saturday Jan 30, 2010 9:22:22 EST
Peggy Bourland knows the human body can only survive so much, but still she hopes desperately her husband will be found alive under the rubble in Haiti.
Maj. Ken Bourland has been missing since Jan. 12, when a 7.0-magnitude earthquake leveled Port-au-Prince, capital of the island nation. He and six other members of U.S. Southern Command had flown to Haiti on the day of the earthquake to attend a disaster relief conference.
Bourland, a career UH-1 Huey pilot and the Caribbean desk officer at the command’s headquarters in Miami, and his colleagues were staying at Hotel Montana, a popular tourist destination. The others in the Southern Command contingent, including deputy director Lt. Gen. Ken Keen, suffered only minor injuries.
In a Jan. 27 telephone interview, Peggy Bourland told Air Force Times that she refuses to think about the passing days and what they could mean.
“I still keep in my mind blocking it out,” Peggy Bourland said from the family’s home in suburban Miami. “I don’t want to go there until I am told I have to, but every once in awhile when I have my moments, I have to start thinking about him. I guess maybe I am not ready to accept it.”
As of Jan. 28, at least three U.S. military rescue teams continued to search for survivors at Hotel Montana, according to Peggy Bourland. The Air Force, however, could not tell her how much longer rescue operations would continue. The Haitian government ended its rescue operations Jan. 23.
Read more at:
http://www.airforcetimes.com/news/2010/01/airforce_haiti_missing_major_012910/