Humanitarian Service Medal

Lieutenant Edward A. Faxlanger Jr.

United States Navy

Genesee County Herald Newspaper Article, Wed., Dec. 20, 1989

Mt. Morris, Michigan

Native assists in untangling Hurricane Hugo aftermath

by Todd E. Hensen

Navy Public Affairs Center, 1989

CHARLESTON, SC.– After Hurricane Hugo ripped through Charleston September 21, Mt. Morris Navy man Edward A. Faxlanger Jr. was quick to volunteer his services to help clean up the mess. The 32-year-old son of Sandra J. and Edward A. Faxlanger Sr. of Mount Morris joined many of his fellow crew members from the ballistic-missile submarine USS George Bancroft in unloading food and supplies and distributing them to Charleston residents.

Faxlanger also helped by removing uprooted trees left in the wake of the storm. Four days after Hugo struck,Faxlanger and his shipmates began clearing trees and repairing homes of 40 fellow crew members and more than 50 other homes of Charleston residents in the surrounding area. This work went so smoothly and efficiently that by September 28, the submarine’s crew switched their priorities to community service projects.

One major area of concentration for the community service projects took place at the central supply distribution center, established at the Gilliard Municipal Auditorium in downtown Charleston. Beginning September 26, the crew supplied an average of 32 men per day for unloading and sorting truckloads of donated supplies and then reloading the trucks for shipment to remote distribution centers. By September 29, the crew had efficiently organized and established a food distribution line with as many as 65 crew members participating in passing out groceries each day. They continued to run the distribution line until October 3.

Faxlanger said he was glad to be involved with the project. “I feel that we should have been working the distribution lines right from the beginning,” he said. “It gave me great inner feeling and sense of satisfaction to be out helping the people of our community. I’ve never seen as much food in my life as I saw at Gilliard Auditorium, it was piled sky-high!”

Faxlanger, along with 13 fellow workers from the Bancroft’s weapons division, helped out in another way. “We cleared the playground and lawn of a local elementary school”, he said. “There were so many trees down that it took two full days of work before it was able to be used again.”

Faxlanger’s commanding officer, Cmdr. Kevin J. Ferguson, who organized the Bancroft relief effort, was justifiably proud of his crew.

“I feel great about the work my crew did in helping to get this community back on it’s feet,” Ferguson said. “It’s hard to describe the pride and personal satisfaction in knowing that such high quality Americans work for and with me.”

Faxlanger a Clio Area High School graduate said that he had never been though a hurricane before.

“I’ve never seen anything like this,” he said. “There were trees down all over the place, big 100-ft trees that crumpled like toothpicks after the 135 mile-per-hour winds hit them. One thing’s for sure, this state isn’t going to have to worry about having firewood for a while! Seeing the destruction caused by HUGO, I’m really surprised that more people weren’t seriously hurt or killed.”

Faxlanger said that even though the hurricane was scary for him and his wife Diane, it was just another evening for his two children, Angela, age 4 and Edward A. III, age two. It was also a time of joyous news for Faxlanger himself.

“The kids just wanted to know why we were in the bathroom. We told them we were going to camp out, eat and play with toys,” he said. “about half-way through the hurricane when the eye came, we were looking out our back window and talking about how tranquil things had become then right out of the blue, my wife said–‘I suppose this isn’t the right time to tell you but I’m pregnant.’ Of all times to tell me this, she picks the evening of Hurricane Hugo! However, I was ecstatic to hear the news, even while worrying about the well-being of my family and house. The end result was that our home suffered no damage.

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