Story posted Wednesday, January 20, 2010
Rescued In Haiti
Resident's Relative Saved From Earthquake Rubble
By CRAIG ADAMS Journal & Topics Reporter
Two people with ties to Park Ridge were involved in last week's earthquake in Haiti, one being rescued from the rubble and the other heading down as part of an assistance force.
Jean Dietsch is on the Park Ridge O'Hare Airport Advisory Commission and is active in Boy Scouts, Mary Seat of Wisdom Church, and local political groups. Her father-in-law, Charles Dietsch, is a deacon at Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Southbury, Conn. He and his wife have volunteered for several missions to Haiti.
"He had arrived in Haiti on Sunday, my mother-in-law was supposed to join him on Friday for three months," Jean said. "He was in the mission house when the earthquake hit."
Director of the mission house in Port-au-Prince, Jillian Thorp, was with Charles when the quake hit. She asked him what was happening and he quickly told her it was an earthquake. "He grabbed her and moved them into a doorway," Jean explained.
Thorp's husband works for CBS news and was also in Haiti at the time, about 100 miles away from the mission house.
Thorp's cellular telephone was still working, and she managed to call her husband to tell him she and Charles were trapped in the rubble of the mission.
Jean knew about the earthquake and knew her father-in-law was in Haiti, and soon discovered much of the damage was in Port-au-Prince. Thorp's call to her husband generated other news reports about two people trapped. "I heard the news that two people from Southbury, Conn. were trapped," she said. "Then I called my mother-in-law and she said she got word that it was them."
The earthquake struck at 3:53 p.m. Chicago time on Tuesday, Jan. 12. "By 6 or 7 o'clock, we knew they were trapped," Jean said.
As Thorp's husband drove toward the mission, a trip that took nearly eight hours, the other director of the mission arrived at the collapsed house and rescue efforts began.
"(Thorp's) cell phone died and they were really panicked because it became harder and harder to breathe," Jean said. Finally, the rescuers broke through and saw the trapped people.
"They finally saw light and they knew they were getting more oxygen."
Thorp's husband soon arrived and the efforts continued until both were freed. They were taken to a hospital in the Dominican Republic. "It wasn't till the next morning we found out that they had been rescued," Jean said. Charles was finally given a cellular telephone to call his wife on Thursday morning.
He was later flown to Miami and is now home in Connecticut. "He's shaken up and very sore," Jean said. His arm and hand were partially crushed and he will require surgeries for skin grafts and the reattachment of ligaments.
He also received a concussion and a broken eye socket. "He was extremely lucky," Jean said. "The whole family was praying and their prayers were answered."
As one man on a mission comes home, another Park Ridge resident was selected to go to Haiti to help with the aftermath of the quake. Lt. Henry Lifton, a Second Lieutenant in the U.S. Army, is part of the 82nd Airborne based at Fort Bragg, N.C. That is one of the divisions deploying to Haiti to help distribute supplies and provide security.
"He was scheduled to fly out on Friday night," said his mother, Kim Lifton. During that call, her last contact with her son as of Monday morning, he was in a large holding area awaiting transport. She explained her son did not have specific orders and could not tell his mom what his duties would be upon arrival in Haiti.
Kim said her son graduated from West Point and was commissioned in May 2008.
"Both his dad (Jim) and I are extremely proud that he will have the opportunity to be helpful in this humanitarian effort," Kim said. "We understand that the things that he will see or the things he'll have to do will be difficult, but we're just so very proud of him and proud of the government that the United States is doing this."
Speak Out!
Comments are edited first by Journal staff before running in print and appearing online.