Meet and Greet, organized by John Wolfram
Ministries at Museum From 10:00 a.m.
– 2:00 p.m. July 4, 2024
POWDER SPRINGS,
Ga., July 1, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- On
July 24, 1969 four Navy frogmen,
Clancy Hatleberg, Wes Chesser, Mike
Mallory and John Wolfram made
history while assisting NASA in the recovery of the Apollo 11
Columbia capsule after it splashed down in the Pacific Ocean.
Inside the space capsule was Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin, the first two
men to walk on the Moon and Columbia pilot, Michael Collins.
Wolfram, the first human the astronauts saw had
pasted flowers on his wetsuit.
"Remember it was the 1960s," said Wolfram.
"Flower power represented peace and love. It was my statement to
the world to give peace a chance during turbulent times and the
controversial Vietnam war.
"As the sea anchor man, I had to leap into the
ocean alone to catch the capsule and attach the small
parachute-anchor before the others could join me in the water. My
teammates referred to me as "shark bait" because we had encountered
numerous sharks during rehearsals and I'd be the first to know",
said Wolfram.
After the capsule was stabilized, Clancy Hatleberg, the senior UDT officer, joined
the other three frogmen in the ocean. He was NASA trained to
conduct the decontamination procedures. He donned a Biological
Isolation Garment, (BIG suit) and handed the astronauts
their BIGs before assisting them into the raft to start their
decontamination.
"NASA was concerned about the possibility of
Lunar pathogens," said Hatleberg. "My instructions were to wash
everything, including the astronauts with a disinfectant and they
in turn were to wash me."
Wolfram will also be in Washington, D.C. working on a documentary of
his book, Splashdown, The Rescue of a Navy Frogman with Emmy
award–winning filmmaker, Dave
Macintosh based in the capital city.
Rescuing astronauts was not the only adventure of
Wolfram's short navy career. He was deployed twice to Vietnam, where he received a Purple Heart from
a leg wound received during a firefight with the Viet Cong.
"Losing eight close friends was traumatic," said
Wolfram, "I was one of the fortunate ones. I was able to return to
the United States and pick up
where I left off."
Wolfram's Christian journey has led him back to
Vietnam, among those whom he once
fought, in order to lead them to Jesus
Christ. "One of my ministry highlights was baptizing a
former Vietnamese General in the name of Jesus Christ, said Wolfram.
"I recently built a Bible school in central
Vietnam, a memorial in honor of my
five SEAL teammates and three high school friends who died during
the war," said Wolfram.
When asked if he got into trouble for his flowers
during the recovery, Wolfram said, "No. They gave me a medal."
Splashdown, The Rescue of a Navy
Frogman can be purchased online
at johnwolfram.com.
To arrange an interview, contact John Wolfram:
678-654-1487
Related Links
– http://johnwolfram.com
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SOURCE John Wolfram Ministries