History Book: Cave rescue

NICK EICHER, HOST: Today is Monday, July 10th. Good morning! This is The World and Everything in It from listener-supported WORLD Radio. I’m Nick Eicher.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: And I’m Mary Reichard. Up next, the WORLD History Book.

Five years ago this week, the end of a daring rescue. And 25 years ago the Roman Catholic Diocese of Dallas agrees to a large financial settlement with abuse victims. But first, we return to World War II and the Battle of Sicily. WORLD’s executive producer Paul Butler is our guide.

NEWSREEL: From the shores of North Africa, the United Nations High Command launches the greatest amphibious military operation in history: the invasion of Sicily.

PAUL BUTLER: The Battle of Sicily, or “Operation Husky” begins on July 9th, 1943.

NEWSREEL: From many ports, the mighty naval Armada gets underway. Ships flying the flags of Britain and the United States. Ships of the Netherlands, the Polish, the Greek, the Indian Navies taking part in the concerted assault aimed at the Italians Island stronghold. Beneath the guns of cruisers, battleships, gunboats, destroyers. The convoys steam across the Mediterranean.

For months before the attack, the Allies engage in several successful mis-information operations. The Nazi and Axis forces on the Mediterranean island are caught largely unprepared.

NEWSREEL: [SOUNDS OF SHELLING]

NEWSREEL: Tons of supplies and equipment are ferried ashore. At many points troops wadded in, surprised to find much less resistance than expected.

There are casualties however. Nearly 6000 Allied troops lose their lives in the 5-week offensive, but they successfully force Axis troops from the island—reopening the Mediterranean sea lanes to Allied merchant ships, the first time since 1941.

NEWSREEL: Into shell-shattered towns moved the Yanks. The conquest of Sicily was completed with the fall of Messina, which separates the island from the toe of the Italian boot. As the troops marched into town after town, it was quite evident that the people considered them liberators not conquerors.

The victory at Sicily leads to the overthrow of Mussolini and the eventual defeat of Italy. It also forces Adolf Hitler to divert nearly one fifth of his army to the region, weakening his ability to make war elsewhere.

[NEWSREEL MUSIC OUT]

Next, July 10th, 1998, 25 years ago today. The Roman Catholic Diocese of Dallas agrees to pay $23 million to eight former altar boys abused by a priest. Three other victims settle for an additional $7.5 million dollars. The priest responsible is sentenced to life in prison and defrocked by the Vatican. The Dallas settlement is the largest the Catholic Church has ever been forced to pay. But it's soon dwarfed by other settlements in the following years.

In 2007 the Los Angeles Archdiocese agrees to pay $660 million to settle abuse claims of more than 500 people. The Oregon Province of the Society of Jesus reaches a settlement of just over $166 million in 2011 for more than 500 cases of clergy abuse there. In 2018, the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis agrees to pay victims $210 million. In 2020 news comes to light that five Catholic dioceses across the state of New Jersey have paid over $11 million in response to more than 100 claims of abuse. And a couple months later, the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Philadelphia announces that it expects to pay $126 million in reparations.

According to U.S. Department of Justice data, American dioceses have recorded more than 17,000 complaints from 1980 to 2020 and have paid out $4 billion to victims.

And finally today, the dramatic conclusion to a daring rescue mission five years ago this week.

NEWS CLIP: Let us begin today with a successful end to the rescue efforts in Thailand.

18 days earlier, twelve members of a junior association soccer team and their 25-year old coach enter the Tham Luang cave in northern Thailand. While they are in the cave, it begins to rain heavily outside and the cave system begins to flood.

NEWS CLIP: Tonight, rescue teams in Thailand are working around the clock, scrambling to free a youth soccer team.

The rising waters in the cave not only trap the team inside, but hamper efforts to locate the boys and coach.

NEWS CLIP: Rescuers are racing to pump water out of a six mile long flooded cave.

International rescue teams from around the world begin arriving on the scene. On July 2nd British divers John Volanthen and Rick Stanton find the group alive—about two and a half miles from the cave opening.

NEWS CLIP: How many of you? 13? Brilliant!

By this point, the only way in or out is through very long and dangerous underwater passages.

NEWS CLIP: Authorities there are looking at all of their options. None of them easy.

Rescuers pump out millions of gallons of water from the expansive cave system, but it isn’t making much of a difference. And it will take months for the waters to naturally recede. When forecasters predict a coming significant rainfall, rescuers agree to a risky plan: sedate each boy, restrain them on a stretcher, connect them to breathing gear, and cave dive each of them out. The dive teams aren’t convinced that everyone will make the journey successfully. One Thailand Navy Seal has already died in preparing the path in and out.

NEWS CLIP: The man who died was young, he was fit. He was a former Navy Seal. And I think it really just underlines how dangerous this cave is. Because by contrast, these boys are inexperienced. They’re weak. They’ve been in there for 14 days.

But over a period of two days, divers successfully rescue all 12 boys and their coach.

NEWS CLIP: Outside the dank receses of this Thai cave, it’s the sound of triumph.

The effort employed as many as 10,000 people—including more than 100 divers, 900 police officers, and 2,000 soldiers. Today, the cave is considered a living museum to the operation and the people who worked so hard to rescue the team. And the local government has also increased safety procedures so that nothing like this can happen again.

That’s this week’s World History Book, I’m Paul Butler.

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