LUZERNE COUNTY (WBRE/WYOU)— On this week's Veterans Voices, we meet a Navy rescue swimmer from Luzerne County who teaches military members how to survive life-or-death scenarios at sea.
And surviving extreme conditions at sea is something this veteran knows first hand.
Crestwood High graduate Bill Gibson is an elite rescue swimmer.
The retired Navy veteran is so good, he teaches the next generation of aviation rescue swimmers to survive the worst possible situations, but it didn't start off that way.
The 61-year-old from Mountain Top admits he wasn't sure what he wanted to do with his life, but a heart to heart with his dad pointed him in the right direction.
Then he discovered running and that made him primed for boot camp, and eventually the Navy's grueling program.
"Before I left for boot camp, I did a ten mile run which set the level really high. For me that meant nothing was impossible," voiced Bill Gibson, instructor, Aviation Rescue School.
"It was a grueling training period, constant swimming, building endurance, very high attrition rate. By the time I got done with all of the training, I was on cloud nine," added Gibson.
Gibson's most famous water rescue came off the coast of Florida in 1986, as chronicled in the book, "Calm in the Chaos".
Gibson and another rescue swimmer already saved two people from a boat wreck, but when he went back in for another rescue, the unthinkable happened in pitch dark.
"I came back for the third guy, was bringing him in, all of a sudden the chopper started moving away. I'm wondering what. Out of my right eye I see a 400 foot cargo vessel coming down on us," remembered Gibson.
Gibson somehow managed to make it down under the ship and miss the propellers. He calls the moment his most memorable rescue.
Gibson lives in Pensacola, Florida now as an instructor at the Aviation Rescue Swimmer School.
He says Uncle Sam came calling at just the right time in his life, and credits the Navy and his dad for the discipline and work ethic that changed his path and his life.
"It gave me direction. I'd never trade it in, no matter what branch. I preferred the navy, but they were all good. What they promised me, they were gonna give me, I got," expressed Gibson.
Gibson visits NEPA to see friends and relatives often.
He also helps organize Crestwood High School's class reunions.
