A U.S. Marine Corps attack helicopter pilot made an unusual pitstop Saturday by landing on a ball field in Maine to retrieve a lost cell phone, the Mount Desert Islander reported.
Six Marines stopped for lunch at a local restaurant called the Thirsty Whale earlier in the day, and one of the Marines apparently left behind his cell phone.
Army Complex (Twitter)
Shortly after leaving, Jess Witherell, a server at the restaurant, told the Mount Desert Islander that they received a phone call from the Hancock County-Bar Harbor airport in Trenton, Maine.
“How far away are you from the town ball field,” a person on the other line asked. “We’re landing a helicopter at the ball field.”
“Oh. Well if you land the helicopter and walk, then it’s about 10 minutes,” Witherell replied.
The person on the phone asked if someone could bring the phone to the ball field and meet them there.
Dishwasher Bryce Lambert got in a car and drove to the ball field to meet them.
When the aircraft was touching down, it set off a car alarm in the neighborhood, the Mount Desert Islander reported.
The Mount Desert Islander reported that residents in the neighborhood are familiar with a helicopter ambulance known as LifeFlight that sometimes use athletic fields as landing zones. However, resident Kate Hall Jordan noticed that the helicopter was not from LifeFlight.
The aircraft that landed was identified as a U.S. Marine Corps AH-1W attack helicopter. A Bell UH-1Y Venom circled the neighborhood while the phone was being retrieved.
One person got out the helicopter and met Lamber to retrieve the phone.
“He pulled the [velcro] patch off of his jacket and handed it to me” Lambert said. The person then got back in the helicopter and took off.
