Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton

MARINE CORPS BASE CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. -- With the sun high overhead, two Marines rode in a humvee on a typical Southern California day. Suddenly, a car swerved in front of their vehicle, changing not only their itinerary, but also their lives.

Now, they're being recognized among peers as heroes for putting themselves in harm's way to rescue a carload of strangers. Their valor earned them the Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal, presented here last month.  

"We were on the freeway and saw a car swerve and roll toward us four times. I was nervous it would blow up because black smoke was coming out," said Cpl. Jose L. Zapata, a radio operator with F Battery, 2nd Battalion, 11th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division.

It was noon, Oct. 5, 2001. Zapata and his assistant driver, Staff Sgt. Aaron S. Pomerleau, the battery's communications chief, were tooling along Highway 111 in the desert en route to a Weapons Instructor Course in Niland.

The Marines made an unexpected pit stop as they witnessed a single vehicle accident unfold. As the almost-cinematic rollover occurred in front of him, Zapata pulled over. The vehicle's roof caved in, and five unfastened passengers were trapped inside with a 30-pack of beer.

The two Marines felt they had entered a zone in which time froze. Screams for help from the wrecked vehicle burst the silence and snapped them out of shock and into action.

"We paused for a few seconds in the hummer because it looked like the vehicle was going to blow up. I didn't expect anyone to be alive. Then we heard screaming and realized we needed to react fast," said Pomerleau, a native of Cumberland, Maine.

"The people were panicking, screaming and scared. They tried to get out, but couldn't," said Zapata, a Houston native.

Their adrenaline pumping and minds racing, Pomerleau and Zapata tried to assess casualties, but the vehicle's condition made it difficult. Zapata went to the driver's side, Pomerleau to the other. 

"The windows were cracked, but intact, so we had to peel them off by using our elbows so that we wouldn't cut ourselves," Pomerleau said.

Pomerleau's first reaction was to pull the front passenger, who was unconscious, from the car. He struggled but finally managed to squeeze the victim out of a 12- to 15-inch opening.

"We had to work fast, because we could see the engine from inside the car. I didn't see a fire, but there had to have been one because black smoke was seeping from the engine. I'm not sure if we were scared, but we were rushing to get away from the car," said Pomerleau.

As Zapata arrived on the driver's side, he was in disbelief that the driver had managed to pull himself from the car. Zapata immediately maneuvered inside the vehicle, gripped a backseat passenger and pulled her out.

"When I pulled the lady out from the backseat, a patch of skin with hair and blood, which peeled back, flapped from her head. She had a big gash in her forehead and blood was pouring out," he said.

"Oh yeah, it was gross," Pomerleau said.

While Pomerleau and Zapata were busy with the other trapped victims, hysteria escalated among those freed from the vehicle. Zapata grew impatient and finally scolded them for hampering his rescue efforts. 

"We tried to calm them down, but couldn't because they were drunk and couldn't stand still," Pomerleau said. "I could smell alcohol on their breath and couldn't really communicate with them because I don't know Spanish. Fortunately, Zapata knows Spanish and the victims got the idea and cooperated with us."

Moments after all passengers were pulled to the side of the road, an M-923 5-ton truck driver within the convoy pulled over, grabbed his fire extinguisher and put out the fire under the hood. 

The Riverside County Fire Department arrived 15 minutes later. Meanwhile, the Marines administered basic lifesaving and first aid before an ambulance whisked away all five accident survivors.                  

"I passed out the medical aid gloves and the Marines got busy," Tom Tisdale, fire chief of the Riverside County Fire Department, wrote in a letter to Maj. Gen. James T. Conway, 1st Marine Division commanding general. The letter extended the fire chief's gratitude to the Marine rescuers.

Pomerleau and Zapata accepted their medals March 14 at the 11th Marine Regiment parade deck.

Military training contributed to their rescue, but adrenaline and personal fortitude was their heroic driving force, the Marines agreed.

"It shouldn't matter whether you're a first sergeant, gunny, staff sergeant, corporal or private - you go off of your instinct, and whatever you feel inside is what you do," Pomerleau said.