Plucky Yank Saves Cop

While on liberty from the USS Towers in Hong Kong harbor (1985 or 1986?)

That was the headline of the newspaper in Hong Kong the day before we were supposed to leave. A corpsman on the USS Towers happened to be down the street from a shootout as a jewelry store robbery went bad in Kowloon.

The bad guys were surprised to find cops waiting on them as they left the store and they opened fire. One of the cops was hit in the chest. As soon as the shooting stopped this corpsman ran down the street - identified himself to a cop - and started to treat the wounded officer. His life threatening injury was a sucking chest wound. By the time an ambulance arrived, the bleeding was under control and the cigarette/plastic wrap was in use - saving the cops life.

What made it all so funny, was this corpsman was the kind of guy that shared what he thought, even if no one asked... he'd say anything, even to the Captain. So he had a reputation and a bit of a record as a trouble maker, so when the HK Police Chief came aboard to present the corpsman with a medal... The past was forgotten (temporarily)!

The USS Towers got some great press for the US Navy, the cop got his life and the corpsman got a medal and his choice of duty station!

I've looked online for archive versions of that story - but it pre-dates the Hong Kong newspaper's online searches. If someone out there has a copy of that article, I'd love to have it to post here!