AMERICAN HEROES DAY will be held at the Chicamacomico Life-Saving Station Museum Complex, located at Milepost 39.5 on N.C. 12 in Rodanthe Thursday, August 4, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. in the village of Rodanthe on Hatteras Island.  It will also be celebrating two other related events at the same time; the centennial of their new replacement 1911 Life-Saving Station, and National Coast Guard Day, which is always August 4.

Chicamacomico was part of the United States Life-Saving Service (USLSS) and was the first station built in North Carolina.  The original station, dating from 1874, is still on the site as one of eight buildings belonging to the Chicamacomico Historical Association.  The men of the United States Life-Saving Service (1871-1915) were the original rescue heroes, the “storm warriors” who made dramatic and heroic rescues of shipwreck victims whose lives were in peril from the sea. In their history, nation-wide, the USLSS’s men responded to more than 178,000 lives in peril from the sea, of which they saved over 177,000!  This is a startling rate of success of 99.2 percent, while their own loss of life, usually under the worst possible conditions, was less than one per cent!  Heroes indeed.  In 1915, this service merged with the U.S. Revenue Cutter Service to form the United States Coast Guard which routinely continues this tradition of heroism.

With that inspiration, Chicamacomico decided to honor and celebrate true American heroes of the past and the present.  Participants invited include the U.S. Coast Guard,  Coast Guard Auxiliary, local volunteer fire departments, local law enforcement agencies, local EMS units and Ocean Rescue squads, Cape Hatteras Electric,  NPS Cape Hatteras National Seashore,  Outer Banks Lighthouse Society, and perhaps some last-minute surprises.  Equipment on display and/or in use includes fire engines, ambulances, police cars, Coast Guard helicopter, rescue boats, and others. There will be numerous displays, demonstrations, and exhibits as well as hands-on activities and participation events and live period music. See schedule of events on the station’s website for forthcoming details. 

 
Any one of the “one-time events’ is worth the price of admission.  The Search and Rescue Demo could be straight from the movie “The Guardian”.  A Coast Guard 47-foot motor life boat will be in the ocean off Chicamacomico’s beach.  It plays the role of a vessel in distress with a man overboard.  An HH-60 Jayhawk helicopter arrives, circles, locates the “victim” in the water, hovers, and then a rescue swimmer jumps from the helo into the ocean!  Then he assists the victim into the basket and is hoisted into the Jayhawk and then whisked away to safety! Three different methods are demonstrated