Massachusetts Soldiers Rescue N.J. Woman Stranded For 3 Days At Joint Base

JOINT BASE MCGUIRE-DIX-LAKEHURST, NJ — Just days before her birthday, Jeannette Haskins found herself in a predicament.

The 87-year-old Egg Harbor Township woman had been driving along Route 539 Saturday morning, her gray tabby Mokey riding along with her, when she took a wrong turn and found herself on a dirt road that turned into sand.

With the tires of her Cadillac trapped in the soft sand of the Pinelands, in an area where cell phone service is sketchy, there was little Haskins could do but wait and hope for help. So she opened all the doors of the car and put her sunshade in the windshield to help ward off the heat on a blistering summer weekend. She had no food or water, but thunderstorms that passed through gave her a little rainwater to drink.

On Monday afternoon, Staff Sgt. Dana Francis and Sgt. Tommy Coppola of the Massachusetts Army National Guard were driving through the area on a scouting mission when they came upon the car and found Haskins slumped in the back. The two, along with Spc. John Shively and Pfc. Aaron Amardey-Wellington, jumped into action, giving Haskins water and oxygen until she could be taken to a nearby hospital.

Now the four are being hailed for their heroic actions.

"What can I say to someone who saved my life?" Haskins said in a post Thursday to the Massachusetts National Guard Facebook page post on the rescue. "There are no words to express my gratitude. I thank you with all my heart."

Lt. Col. James Sahady of the Massachusetts National Guard, reached Friday, said he did not have any more details on the incident, and the soldiers involved were en route back to Brockton, Massachusetts, with the battalion from the week of training.

But he said the rescue has drawn attention from far and wide and his phone has been ringing off the hook.

"We are very proud of them," Sahady said.

Haskins' family and people from around the country have commented as well, praising the soldiers for rescuing the woman.

"We were able to celebrate her birthday yesterday due to your soldiers!" Bonnie Haskins Baker, Haskins' daughter, said in a comment and shared a photo of the birthday celebration.

Haskins' granddaughters and niece commented as well.

Route 539 runs through the middle of Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, connecting Manchester Township with Plumsted Township in Ocean County, and there are turns along the road that can be confusing to someone unfamiliar with the area. Cell phone service can be sketchy along the stretch of road, making it difficult to summon help if you run into a problem.

Francis and Coppola, non-commissioned officers in G Company 186th Brigade Support Battalion, were at the base with the 1st Battalion, 101st Field Artillery Regiment, which was training at the base all week. Part of that training included firing the new Howitzers at the base, which rattled nearby residents and sent rumbles that could be heard for miles.

In an account of the rescue by Army Capt. John Quinn of the Massachusetts Army National Guard, Francis and Coppola were driving down a wooded tank trail when they came upon the Cadillac.

"We didn't know what to think at first," Francis said, and said they even honked at the car. Then they approached the car and found all its doors open and a sunshade in the windshield and spotted Haskins slumped in the backseat. They called out to her, they said, but she was unresponsive.

“We knew she was breathing,” Francis said, and the two, who are civilian firefighters, sought help from another group they knew was training nearby and guided Shively and Amardey-Wellington to the scene to assess Haskins, Quinn said.

“I ran up to the vehicle and found she was just waking up,” Coppola said. “We were thinking the worst when we first started.”

Haskins was confused at first and unable to explain how she got stuck so deep in the woods, they said, but after helping her into a military ambulance, they learned she became stuck in the woods Saturday morning, Quinn wrote. She appeared to be suffering from severe dehydration and possibly heat illness as a result of the extremely hot weather.

Temperatures were in the 90s all weekend and into Monday, and the heat index exceeded 100 degrees, according to the National Weather Service.

They gave her plenty of water and put her on oxygen, then assisted Air Force security personnel and Fort Dix ambulance crews when they arrived at the scene, Quinn said.

“It was by chance that the contact team was traveling down this remote tank trail and came across the elderly woman. Their response and quick action are just another example of what being a citizen-soldier is about,” said Lt. Col. Jeffrey M. Holloway, commander of the 1st Battalion, 101st Field Artillery Regiment.

“Those four individuals did the right thing,” Holloway said. “They immediately knew what to do. I’m extremely proud of these great soldiers.”

Family members are continuing to search for Mokey, who got out of the car at some point over the weekend and has not been seen since.

Cassandra Baker said Mokey was still missing as of Thursday, but that searchers have put a trap at the site near where Haskins' car was found.

"Mokey is a gray tabby with a marbled pattern. He is very sweet but can be shy around strangers. He is microchipped," she said in a post on the Lost And Found Pets New Jersey Facebook page.

Messages seeking comment from Haskins and her family were not returned, but according to a post on the 1st Battalion Facebook page, Haskins was recovering from her ordeal.

The rescuers, from left: Staff Sgt. Dana Francis; Sgt. Tommy Coppola; Spc. John Shively, and Pfc. Aaron Amardey-Wellington. Photo by Army Capt. John Quinn, Massachusetts Army National Guard, used with permission