A young mother and her two-month-old son have the food they need after a combined mission by the West Virginia Air and Army National Guard in Preston County Friday afternoon.
The special operations unit based at Camp Dawson was able to get a helicopter close to the woman’s home on Caddell Mountain between Kingwood and Terra Alta.
Major Chris Brown says the unit had been informed that the mother was running low on food for her son.
Brown says the crew landed, walked just less than two miles, going through deep snow and around many downed trees to reach the residence.
“They were happy to see us. We talked with them for a while and joked around,” he said. “They were happy we had water and food. We were able to hear what issues they had.”
The mother, Brittany Sypolt, didn’t want to leave her home. She believes the road will be cleared in another three days or sooner.
Lt. Kevin Smith with the Charleston-based 130th Airlift Wing was able to do a medical check on Sypolt and her son and found them in good condition.
“The only issue that they had is they were running out of formula. We actually left them four days of formula so they should be good,” Lt. Smith said.
The crew did walk to another house and found a 47-year-old woman and a roommate who did want to come off the mountain. The Guard members were able to get them through the snow to an awaiting Humvee that took them off the mountain.
Major Brown says it was tough getting around in the area because of the destruction caused by the snowstorm.
“We actually had to move of the road and move cross country due to the amount of power lines that were down, the amount of trees. We just couldn’t navigate around them,” Brown said.
The Guard had helicopters operating in several mountain counties Friday.