Community Corner
CT Family Heads To Thailand To Search for Missing National Guardsman
The Enfield and Manchester residents plan to help search for their son, brother who vanished during a diving excursion.
The mother and sister of a former Connecticut National Guardsman who disappeared last weekend on a scuba diving excursion in Thailand are scheduled to fly out to the Southeast Asia country Thursday night to help in the search for Joshua Devine.
The 36-year-old Devine was with his wife, a native of Thailand, and others on a dive boat headed for an excursion in the Similan Islands when he disappeared April 11.
Since his disappearance, Devine’s sister, Jennifer Bakowski, and mother, Marie Gallant Major, who live in Manchester and Enfield, have questioned the circumstances surrounding the incident and Thai officials’ decision to call off a search for him.
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They established a GoFundMe effort to raise money to help pay for their trip to Thailand to launch their own search. Late Wednesday night, the family posted on the Bring Josh Home Safe Facebook page, “ “Flights are booked, hotel is booked...now 24 hours to go before we begin the journey to bring Josh home. (Love) you all so much for all the support and kind words that have gotten us so far in just a few days. You are all amazing and we can’t wait to post our reunion smack down video with Josh.”
According to NBC Connecticut, Thai officials resumed their search on Tuesday, April 14.
Find out what's happening in Enfieldfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
According to the Phuket Gazette, Devine was a member of the Connecticut National Guard from 2002 until 2006 and now works as a civilian on a U.S. military base in Kuwait.
Bruce Major wrote on the Bring Josh Home Safe Facebook page, “My wife Marie and My daughter Jen leave for Thailand Thursday night. with the help of a lot of wonderful peoples generosity and prayers these to strong women are embarking on a journey, that I don’t know many people would take on, put I know being with these three people the past 9 years, I realized how strong their love is for each other.”
The NBC Connecticut report can be found here.
Photo credit: Bring Josh Home Safe via Facebook.
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