FISC employee receives Medal of Valor

Herbert 'Maka' Kaio-Campbell (far right), a fuel employee with the Fleet and Industrial Supply Center Pearl Harbor, was recently awarded the Medal of Valor during a ceremony at the Honolulu Fire Department Training Center. Maka was credited with saving the life of a teenager struggling in rough surf at Makapu'u Beach. Also recognized for his role in the lifesaving effort was Maka's brother, Louis Kaio-Campbell, who is shown alongside Maka. On hand for the presentation were Honolulu Mayor Mufi Hannemann (left) and Sylvia Waiwaiole-Hopfe, vice chair of the Honolulu Fire Commission. U.S. Navy photo by Jim Murray

Ava C. Bronson
Fleet and Industrial Supply Center, Pearl Harbor

A 19-year-old worker at Fleet and Industrial Supply Center Pearl Harbor was recently awarded the Civilian Medal of Valor during a ceremony at the Charles H. Thurston Training Center.

The award was presented to Herbert “Maka” Kaio-Campbell by Mayor Mufi Hannemann and the Honolulu Fire Department.

Maka is credited with saving the life of a teenage girl at Makapu’u Beach Park in Waimanalo on Oct. 2, 2009. He was boogie boarding at the beach and was leaving just before sundown when he noticed a teenage girl struggling in one of the most dangerous parts of the bay. He watched her briefly, and when it became apparent that she could not get out on her own, he pulled on his swim fins and jumped into the water.

“I knew she was drowning,” he recalled.

By the time he reached the spot where he had last seen her, she was no longer there. Maka had to look for her under the water.

After feeling blindly for the swimmer through the confusing blur of sand particles, turbulence and the dimming sunlight, he found the unresponsive teenage girl and towed her from the left side of the bay to back out to sea, away from the riptide. He then worked his way down the beach until the current released its grip on him and began to head back to shore, fighting his way through the waves.

“Sometimes I had her arm, sometimes her leg, and sometimes even her hair,” he said. “My adrenaline was pumping.”

Maka’s 16-year-old brother, Louis Kaio-Campbell, reached Maka with a boogie board and helped bring the girl to shore.

As they pulled her up the beach, Maka feared that his efforts might have been in vain.

“She was gone,” he said. “I was freaking out.”

Maka and Louis applied pressure to her chest until she lifted her head and threw up.

“I was really happy,” Maka said.

At that point, he sat back exhausted on the sand while his brother and bystanders continued working on her. The ambulance and off-duty lifeguards arrived a few minutes later.

Maka rescued the girl around 6:30 p.m., about an hour after the last lifeguard shift.

Maka has never seen the girl again and doesn’t know her name. But Maka said that is unimportant. In his heart, he knows he stepped forward to help a fellow human in her moment of need. And what more can a man ask of himself?