OVERSEAS NATIONAL AIRWAYS
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ONA Bangladesh and Pakistan operations The greatest air rescue mission in human history ONAīs role in the rescue of about 40,000 Bangladesh and Pakistani nationals who had been stranded in each otherīs countries during the 1971 war. Written by John Ward Gerber, VP, Robert Marston and Associates, Inc., Public Relations, based on an interview with ONA Flight Attendant Lillemor Ostlund Garsten.  Lillemor on apt balcony at Kew Gardens NY Before publishing the article was sent to Winston Defieux of Overseas National Airways, Jamaica, New York, as well as to Lillemor, for approval. The story was then published at UPI. This is the story of the greatest air rescue mission in human history. The objects of the rescue were about 40,000 Bangladesh and Pakistani nationals who had been stranded in each otherīs countries during the 1971 war. It was not until August 1973 that India and Pakistan signed an agreement making repatriation possible. The following February, repatriation finally got under way, under the auspices of the United Nations High Commission for Refugees. Meantime, the refugees had been living in shack camps under minimal conditions on subsistance diets and with a chronic water shortage. The two airlines selected to carry out the repatriation were Overseas National Airways, a leading U.S. charter line, and Aeroflot, the Soviet airline.  Lillemor and Rose-Marie Neuber in Beirut This is the story, as seen through the eyes of Lillemor Ostlund, an Overseas National Airways stewardess who flew about twelve round-trip missions between Dacca, Bangladesh, and Karachi, Pakistan. The missions were flown in two periods, February 2 to 18 and February 26 to March 14. The stretch DC-8 worked round the clock under three rotating crews and carried 250 people on each four-hour run. - They came aboard, miss Ostlund recalls, - wearing, literally, rags and no shoes. All they owned was in a bucket or a little bundle on the end of a walking stick. Most of them were in families of up to eight people and a woman might have two or three babies and infants concealed in the folds of her rags.  Lillemor and navigator Stringfellow - There was one woman I remember who we learned was a widow. She had at least four children with her. Her teeth were gone and her face was wrinkled. She looked at least sixty but we learned she was only 28. - They had managed to keep their pride. Their rags were as clean and neat as they could make them. The women wore nose and ear rings, and bangle bracelets. The children were very quiet. The older peopole were simply resigned, feeling, we were told, that things would be better in the next life. Yes, their religion sustained them. - They chewed betel nut, which was hard to get used to, and they coughed a lot. I donīt think they really knew what was going on. - Of course none of them had ever been in an airplane before. When they came aboard all eight members of a family would try to get into one three-seat row. We had to separate them of course because there wouldnīt be enough oxygen masks to go around. Then we had to fasten their seat belts. - A member of the ground crew gave them their instructions and that was the last verbal communication with them for the four-hour duration of the flight. Of course communicating with children was easy -- it always is. You smile and they smile back. For the adults, we made out with sign language. |
 U.N. Pakistan Refugee Program - 1974 - Rick Skala, Ted Sekola & Keith Latham accepting U.N. Commendation -There was so little, really, that we could do for them. We served them a box lunch containing hard boiled eggs, a piece of cake and a piece of fruit. Most of it disappeared into their rags -- it probably amounted to two days rations. Cold water was their favorite drink -- they had so little water, and none of it cold. They didnīt know what to make of the little salt and pepper container, so a lot of them simply dumped the contents into the water and drank it. They loved sugar -- it was so scarce -- and we always used up all we had aboard. They liked it dissolved in hot water. On one flight, I remember, there was a little boy whimpering, so I made him a rattle out of a film can with a safety pin inside it. I think it frightened him -- he had never seen a rattle. But his mother was grateful. The safety pin was terribly valuable. - On the second series of missons, knowing better what to expect, I brought along plenty of chewing gum for the children. That helped. Miss Ostlund volunteered for the second series of missions. Would she do it again? - Of course. You never really believe the pictures of starving children, but there it was and it was a challenge. It teaches you how good you really have it. Iīd do it again any time, and I think about it whenever I get to feeling sorry for myself. She commented on the contrast with her regular runs to Paris, London, Rome, Copenhagen, Malaga and other American holiday capitals, when both the airplane and the stewardesses must be prepared for every passenger complaint and convenience from aspirin to blankets. - The refugees were infinitely less trouble, she said. - They were so terribly grateful, and, she added firmly, - there were no smart remarks. At the end of the missions, during which ONA ferried 10,000 people in each direction, they received a letter from Francois Cochet, the United Nations High Commission for Refugees representative in Karachi. He said in part: -The most admirable people among your crews are your stewardesses. They have shown with a constant smile, consideration towards thousands of poor persons who were flying for the first time in their lives. Destitute and miserable, these people will forever remember the sincerity and sympathy of the ONA crew members. |