Haitian refugee rescued by Coast Guard as a boy set to graduate USCG Academy

[TheMightyFavog]

Last edited Wed May 16, 2012, 01:13 PM - Edit history (1)

http://ap.stripes.com/dynamic/stories/U/US_CADET_RESCUED_AT_SEA?SITE=DCSAS&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2012-05-14-12-05-26

NEW HAVEN, Conn. (AP) -- Orlando Morel was 6 years old when he and his mother left Haiti on a crowded small wooden boat destined for America. Now 24, Morel remembers the blue of the ocean everywhere. And the hunger.

(snip)

Nor will he forget when the Coast Guard showed up in a white boat and rescued him, his mother and other passengers.

Eternally grateful, the rescue led Morel to join the Coast Guard, and on Wednesday he will graduate from the U.S. Coast Guard Academy in Connecticut. He will serve on a cutter out of Florida whose mission will include migrant interdiction in the very waters where Morel was rescued nearly two decades ago.

(snip)

He says he would probably be dead had the Coast Guard not found him and his fellow migrants, who were lost and out of food. So, he's excited at the prospect of saving lives, just as his was saved.

[Deuce]

1. Good story...hope he has a successful career in the Coast Guard!

[zbdent]

2. I remember when certain people were clamoring for Haitians to

be returned to Haiti, while Cubans were welcomed (in fact, one was bribed quite well to stay, despite the calls of people who normally would be screaming about the "role of a father in a boy's life&quot .

Yes, I know, Clinton continued the policy ...

[nradisic]

3. Great, heart warming story...

We need more immigrants like Orlando Morel...Kudos.

[DCKit]

4. Just goes to show how much immigrants suck.

Oh, wait, we're nearly all immigrants.

The TeaPublican side of my head is hurting.

[FSogol]

5. Nice story, thanks for posting. n/t