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"We could see the water rise"
Cadet Texting Updates to Red Wing, MN Republican Eagle
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Mike Longaecker The Republican Eagle
Published Wednesday, March 25, 2009

David Nelson, a Red Wing High School sophomore and Civil Air Patrol cadet chief master sergeant, left Tuesday for the Fargo, N.D., area with members of his squadron. Nelson agreed to send text-message updates on the squadron's activities when time and duty allowed.

Wednesday

1:24 a.m. - We have arrived in Fargo and it's been a snowstorm up here for the past 30 miles. But we arrived here safely and will be staying at Moorhead State. Looks like we will be starting our day at 6 a.m. but for now we'll be getting some well-earned sleep.

12:40 p.m. - This morning at 9:43 a.m. we departed mission base located in Hector International Airport to begin building retaining walls to prevent the flooding of the Copperfield community. There were well over 200 volunteers composed of Civil Air Patrol and other community members.

We built up the walls very quickly and efficiently and had little trouble with the weather. Many local families helped in the actual building and also provided food for the workers. It was truly a sight seeing so many people work cooperatively to help save a community.

7:50 p.m. - At 1:15 p.m., we left mission base as a convoy of five vehicles to southern Fargo to assist in the front lines of the flood.

We assisted a community refortify their flood walls with plywood and sandbags. We emptied an entire cement truck filled with sand in about four hours. With teamwork and cooperation we were able to refortify many homes. The water was in the backyards of the community and as time went by we could actually see the water rise.

It snowed most of the time and many families opened their doors to us and helped us stay warm and feed us. So far the mission has been very productive and we have been able to save many homes. We're about to get some well-deserved R and R.

R-E: Do you know yet what you will be doing tomorrow? Can you describe the general morale among the locals?

8:13 p.m. - Well, tomorrow will hold many opportunities for mission, but the general feeling was optimism and a willingness to help the cause. A sense of community, if you will.
 

Civil Air Patrol members David Nelson and Davis Peterson go over departure details Tuesday before leaving for the Fargo-Moorhead area. The Red Wing squadron will either aid in sandbagging efforts or traffic control, officials said.

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