A Coast Guardsman who developed a tethered rescue system that saved hundreds during World War II now has a building named in his honor.
During a ceremony, Friday, the Sector Hampton Roads Command Building on Coast Guard Base Portsmouth, Va., was named for Lt. Robert Prause, Jr.
Prause helped save 133 men from the frigid waters of the North Atlantic by using the tethered rescue swimmer system he had previously developed, when a German U-boat torpedoed and sank the U.S. Dorchester on Feb. 3, 1943.
"The ship saved about 150 men who were cast into a very cold sea,” Prause wrote in an April 16, 1943 letter to his parents describing the rescue. “Most of the men were helpless due to the cold, their hands and feet were frozen, many were unconscious, and only one group were in a boat.”
In the tethered rescue system he developed, a swimmer wearing a wet suit with a parachute harness and line around him is lowered over the side of the boat. After swimming out, the swimmer attaches a line around a victim or raft, which is then hauled to the rescue ship’s side.
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Four months later, Prause was serving as the executive officer onboard the Escanaba when it exploded, most likely due to a torpedo attack. Only three survived, including Prause, but he died shortly after he was rescued. He was buried at sea with full military honors and posthumously received the Navy and Marine Corps Medal and the Purple Heart Medal.
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