The U.S. Coast Guard has scheduled a California memorial ceremony next week for an officer who died last month of injuries he suffered during a November search-and-rescue operation on the Bering Sea. According to a Coast Guard statement, the 1 p.m. service for Petty Officer 3rd Class Travis Obendorf will be held Jan. 30 on Coast Guard Island at the service’s Alameda, Calif. base. Alameda is the home port of the Coast Guard cutter Waesche, to which Obendorf was assigned. The Waesche responded Nov. 11 to the fishing vessel Alaska Mist, stranded near Amak Island in the Aleutian chain. Obendorf was injured while securing a small boat used to transfer passengers; he was taken to Seattle for treatment Dec. 6, but died Dec. 18 shortly after a surgical procedure. Coast Guard officials credited Obendorf in December with helping to save five lives from among the Alaska Mist’s crew of 22, hailing him as a hero for putting his life on the line.
↧