Family of major missing in Haiti clings to hope - Military News | News From Afghanistan, Iraq And Around The World - Military Times

Family of major missing in Haiti clings to hope

Peggy Bourland knows the human body can only survive so much, but still she hopes desperately her husband will be found alive under the rubble in Haiti.

Maj. Ken Bourland has been missing since Jan. 12, when a 7.0-magnitude earthquake leveled Port-au-Prince, capital of the island nation. He and six other members of U.S. Southern Command had flown to Haiti on the day of the earthquake to attend a disaster relief conference.

Bourland, a career UH-1 Huey pilot and the Caribbean desk officer at the command’s headquarters in Miami, and his colleagues were staying at Hotel Montana, a popular tourist destination. The others in the Southern Command contingent, including deputy director Lt. Gen. Ken Keen, suffered only minor injuries.

In a Jan. 27 telephone interview, Peggy Bourland told Air Force Times that she refuses to think about the passing days and what they could mean.

“I still keep in my mind blocking it out,” Peggy Bourland said from the family’s home in suburban Miami. “I don’t want to go there until I am told I have to, but every once in awhile when I have my moments, I have to start thinking about him. I guess maybe I am not ready to accept it.”

As of Jan. 28, at least three U.S. military rescue teams continued to search for survivors at Hotel Montana, according to Peggy Bourland. The Air Force, however, could not tell her how much longer rescue operations would continue. The Haitian government ended its rescue operations Jan. 23.

The officer helping to coordinate the service’s relief mission made it clear that finding Bourland is a top priority.

“He, as an airman, is foremost in our mind,” Maj. Gen. Kip L. Self told Air Force Times. “It is real important that we follow through because we all believe in not leaving an airman behind. It is in our creed.”

The Bourlands have two sons — Charley, 3, and Andrew, 16 months. Peggy Bourland’s son, Chance, 14, also lives with the couple.

Since the earthquake, Peggy Bourland has tried to keep life as normal as possible for her boys.

Chance is rehearsing for a school play; the younger ones don’t know yet that their dad is missing.

“I think the hardest thing is missing that glow in my kids’ eyes when he would come home from work and I heard ‘daddy’s home, daddy’s home,’Ÿ” she said. “I wonder if my 3-year-old is wondering when daddy is coming home.”

Standing watch with Peggy Bourland and her sons are Bourland’s parents and sister as well as her parents.

Dennis and Adriene Bourland drove to Florida from their home in Alabama as soon as they learned their son was trapped. The waiting has been difficult for Adriene Bourland, but she is like her daughter-in-law — hopeful.

“I truly thought when I left Alabama that he would be found in two or three days with some bumps and bruises, and they’d rehydrate him and we would have him back by now,” she said.

Besides Bourland, about 200 others are believed trapped under Hotel Montana. The nation’s death toll stands at more than 200,000, according to an estimate by the European Commission.

A group called Haiti Earthquake Hotel Montana is urging the U.S. to continue rescue operations at Hotel Montana. A petition posted on Facebook, a social networking Web site, has more than 5,000 signatures, and lawmakers have received more than 11,000 e-mails and letters, according to the group.

Bourland’s friends and family have set up their own Facebook page, “Praying for the Rescue of Ken Bourland.” The number of members as of Jan. 27 was 5,242.

“Your words are comforting. I am FOREVER grateful,” says a post written by Peggy Bourland. “We are still hopeful.”