Thread by @TheUSAinAfrica

Time passes and stories are forgotten.

This thread remembers a young African-American US Congressman, Mickey Leland, who made an outsized impact in his short 44 years and shows the might of the world's superpower in a different way.

A Search & Rescue mission in #Ethiopia.

🇺🇸🛫🇪🇹 On August 7th, 1989 Congressman Leland was leading a group of 15 to refugee camps along the Sudanese-Ethiopian border in his role as chairman of the House Select Committee on Hunger, which he had established 5 years before. It was his 6th trip to the Gambela region.

The group was flying from Addis Ababa to Gambela on a @dehavillandAIR DHC-6 Twin Otter operated by RRC Air Services, similar to one operated by Ethiopian Airlines around the same time.

On board the flight were 8 Americans and 7 Ethiopians.

When the Twin Otter didn't arrive at Gambela, a Search and Rescue/Recovery mission was launched by the 55th and 67th Special Operations Squadrons of the US Air Force together with their Ethiopian counterparts.

Captain Karl West, 55th Special Operations Squadron, mapping out flight routes with search and rescue (SAR) team planner Tesfaye Tsegaye.

A security guard maintaining his post near the C-141B Starlifter aircraft on the flight line at Bole Airport. The planes had transported medical personnel to Ethiopia for the SAR mission.

A 55th Special Operations Squadron HH-60A Night Hawk helicopter undergoes aerial refueling while flying towards Gambela.

Sargent Rodney Rivers, 1ST Special Operations Wing, installs an antenna on the roof of the Hilton Hotel for radio communications between the embassy SAR control center, located at the hotel, and Bole Airport.

A ground crew member stands by a 55th Special Operations Squadron HH-60A Night Hawk helicopter and a C-141B Starlifter aircraft at Bole Airport.

Personnel manned the embassy control center at the Hilton Hotel on a 24-hour basis during search and rescue (SAR) efforts.

A 7th Airborne Command and Control Squadron EC-130E Hercules aircraft starts its engines prior to taking off on a search and rescue (SAR) mission towards Gambela. The aircraft is electronically equipped to maintain communication links between units taking part in SAR efforts.

Ethiopian soldiers equipped with 7.62mm AKM assault rifles stand near C-130 Hercules aircraft at Bole Airport being used in the SAR mission.

Members of the 67th Special Operations Squadron consult with members of an Ethiopian search and rescue team at Bole Airport.

A Hercules C-130 flying over south western Ethiopia as it continued the search for the missing aircraft.

In anticipation of a possible tragic outcome to the search and rescue mission, personnel began setting up a temporary morgue at the American Embassy in Addis.

Six days after the aircraft went missing, the crash site was found on the slopes of the infamous Mount Welel, a 3300 metre Ultra 20 km east of Gambela.

The crash was catastrophic.

latimes.com/archives/la-xp…

Upon finding the wreckage with no survivors, the mission transitioned from Rescue to Recovery mode, with teams of American and Ethiopian military/SAR personnel arriving at Gambela South Airport to begin the process of repatriating the bodies of the 16 people who perished.

US Air Force SAR operators being lowered to the crash site on Mount Welel.

The mission to recover the bodies took two days, due to the challenging terrain and weather. Meanwhile, the temporary morgue was moved from the US Embassy and set up at Bole Airport along with an identification facility.

LTC Barbara Lauen, 401st Services Squadron commander, assists Ethiopian accident investigators as they attempt to identify the remains of aircraft crash victims at a temporary mortuary/identification center set up at Bole Airport.

Federal Bureau of Investigation fingerprint experts look over supplies in a temporary mortuary/identification center set up at Bole Airport. A joint team of Ethiopian and American specialists worked together to identify the remains of aircraft crash victims.

A body bag containing the remains of one of sixteen passengers killed in the crash is hoisted toward an HH-60A Night Hawk helicopter during recovery operations.

LTC Roger Smith, a dental pathologist with the 316th Air Division, discusses dental X-rays with a member of the Air Force Institute of Pathology at the Bole Airport facility.

With all of the victims recovered and forensically identified, the bodies were prepared for repatriation to the United States.

Ethiopian soldiers stand in formation during a ceremony at Bole Airport honoring Texas Rep. George T. (Mickey) Leland and other victims of the crash.

Ethiopian soldiers carry the remains of one of nine Americans killed in an aircraft crash onto a Military Airlift Command C-141B Starlifter aircraft for return to the United States.

From Addis Ababa, the bodies were flown to Rhein-Main Air Base at Frankfurt, Germany before being transferred to other aircraft for the final leg home to Andrews Air Force Base in the USA.

As the biggest US military SAR operation conducted in Africa drew to a close, the nation began to mourn.

apnews.com/article/ed3c87…

"The bodies of Rep. Mickey Leland and eight other Americans killed in a plane crash in Ethiopia Aug. 7 arrived home Wednesday to a military salute and a prayer that the nation rededicate itself to their ″mission of peace, humanity and compassion.″"

A @HoustonChron editorial by his wife Alison remembering Mickey's legacy 20 years after his death, in 2009.

chron.com/opinion/outloo…

"Mickey Leland's wanderlust led him across the globe, often to sub-Saharan Africa to countries like Sudan, Tanzania and Ethiopia. Instead of returning to Houston jubilant from seeing the world, he came back emotionally drained, family & friends said."
chron.com/local/history/…

"Referred to as the most prolific activist in the fight against world hunger, Congressman Leland stopped at nothing to supply food & healthcare to famished people around the world. His contributions to society sustain admiration throughout the world."

click2houston.com/features/2021/…

How Mickey Leland and the Congressional Black Caucus paved the way for today’s progressive politics.

washingtonpost.com/outlook/2019/0…

Five months after Mickey's death, his wife Alison gave birth to twin boys.

"The ensuing controversy -- council member Jim Westmoreland joked to a reporter that the new airport name might just as well be "Nigger International" -- energized Leland."

washingtonpost.com/archive/lifest…

Today, Alison Leland is the director of the 3+3 Undergraduate/Law Dual-Degree Program, which provides exceptional Honors College students the opportunity to begin their studies at the UH Law Center following their junior year.

ABC News report on the SAR operation.

Excellent B roll from the Associated Press embedded with the US military.

I hope that you enjoyed this thread of what was a new story to me, of an exceptional leader and fascinating, though tragic Search and Rescue operation.

I'll leave you with The Legacy of Leland, published in the Houston History magazine in 2015.

houstonhistorymagazine.org/wp-content/upl…

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