At the April Post meeting, Steve Pennington,and Chris Szarek, at right in this photo, representing Edmonds Community College’s veterans affairs program, presented Past Commander Terry Crabtree and Senior Vice Commander Carl Kurfess with letter of appreciation, recognizing Crabtree and Kurfess’ service to veteran students at the college. Junior Vice Commander Rose Gilliand looks on.
Post 8870 Senior Vice Commander Terry Crabtree spoke to an assemblage of the Chief Petty Officers Association with a moving presentation drawn from his post 9/11 experience in the clean up at Ground Zero in New York City.
Also speaking was Captain Mark Lakamp, USN, Commanding Officer, Naval Station Everett, seated at Crabtree’s left in this photo. (An unidentified Navy Petty Officer stands behind Terry at the podium.)
Terry Crabtree, who serves as our Junior Vice Commander, was our featured speaker at our February meeting. He described the rescue efforts in which he participated following the col-lapse of the World Trade Center in the 9/11 at-tack. At the time, Terry was a construction engineer for Bechtel Corporation and was a member of a team of Bechtel employees who volunteered their services to assist in the rescue and clean-up efforts following the attack on our homeland. In addition to the nine construction specialists, of which Terry was a part, 25 other Bechtel employees served as safety inspectors. The team played a leadership role in the recovery of victims of the attack and the removal of construction debris. All debris had to be in-spected, and Terry described the reverence that was afforded whenever human remains were discovered. He also explained the efforts that had to be made in order to stabilize the slurry wall that prevented the water from the harbor from invading Ground Zero. Terry and his Bechtel colleagues worked at the site for six weeks. He indicated the most difficult part of the job was when the family members of victims came to visit Ground Zero.