NEW LONDON, Conn.— In late August 2017, a devastating tropical cyclone formed in Southeast Texas. As it gained strength, it became the first major hurricane to hit the area in more than a decade. Within a four-day span, Hurricane Harvey dropped 40 inches of rain and caused catastrophic flooding that led to more than 100 deaths.
By the time the Category 4 hurricane was over it had inflicted $125 billion in damage throughout the region. In the immediate wake of the hurricane, a massive Coast Guard response was launched that included more than 2,000 personnel, 75 small boats, 29 cutters and 50 fixed-wing and rotary aircraft.
Sitting in the cockpit of one of those helicopters was (then) Lt. Cmdr. Brian Kudrle. As the response unfolded, Kudrle flew through winds in excess of 80 knots near the eye of the storm to rescue two survivors clinging desperately to a heavily damaged, roofless home surrounded by rising storm surge floodwaters. Battling severe turbulence, Kudrle carefully hoisted the survivors through downed power lines, trees, and storm debris and transferred them to Corpus Christi Hospital.
Spearheading the Coast Guard's MH-60T response in Houston, Texas, Kudrle led his crew into an unknown situation as they braved strong wind, torrential rain, and near zero visibility. On scene, he conducted four medical evacuations and hoisted 23 survivors from an inundated apartment complex.
In the evening, while hovering above wires with the aircraft's rotor blades several feet from treetops, Kudrle conducted a litter hoist through tall trees and flailing power lines lifting a quadriplegic floating on an air mattress out of the flood waters to safety. Performing at the limits of his skill and endurance, Kudrle flew over 30 hours of arduous day and night rescue missions and rescued 107 lives in an unfamiliar urban disaster environment.
A few years later in another part of the country, Kudrle was again cited for extraordinary achievement for his actions on March 2, 2021. As part of a joint Canada-U.S. mission involving multiple aircraft, Kudrle and his crew launched to assist the Canadian fishing vessel Atlantic Destiny, which was disabled by an engine-room fire and taking on water 200 miles east of Air Station Cape Cod with 31 crewmen on board.
Coaxing maximum performance from the helicopter while battling freezing spray and 60-knot winds, he located the darkened fishing vessel adrift and heaving violently in 30-foot seas. Kudrle wrestled the helicopter into position over a four by six foot hoist area. Nearly losing sight of the vessel as he attempted to deliver a trail line, he maneuvered still closer to the swaying superstructure to successfully deliver a dewatering pump before starting to hoist many of the crewmen to safety.
As the helicopter became laden with survivors, Kudrle managed to fly near aircraft limits as he battled to keep the aircraft stable. Despite physical and mental fatigue, he flew another 125 miles to a safe landing at an unfamiliar airfield in Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, landing with 13 people and less than 30 minutes of fuel left.
Kudrle, a 2005 graduate of the U.S. Coast Guard Academy received the Distinguished Flying Cross the highest award for extraordinary aerial achievement for each of the rescue missions. On April 25 he returned to his alma mater to be inducted into the Wall of Gallantry.
For the last 20 years more than 140 Academy graduates have been recognized for heroic acts by being inducted into the Wall of Gallantry, part of a memorial at the Academy located near cadet dormitories in Chase Hall that honor service heroes and fallen graduates.
Kudrle and the following other graduates were remembered for acts of service that will inspire the future leaders of the service.
- Richard Andrews ’67, who was awarded the Bronze Star with Combat Distinguishing Device for meritorious service as a Patrol Boat Commander during combat operations in the Vietnam War.
- Chad Asplund ’92, who transferred to the U.S. Army and received the Bronze Star for courage and commitment to mission accomplishment as a member of Combined Joint Task Force 76 during coalition military operations in the war in Afghanistan.
- Daniel Ward ’96, a Special Agent with the U.S. Dept. of State, who was presented the department’s Extra Mile Award for operational, logistic, and security planning as part of a classified mission in Beirut, Lebanon by the Secretary of State.