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Bataan CWO bringing aid to birthplace

ABOARD THE AMPHIBIOUS ASSAULT SHIP BATAAN — Chief Warrant Officer 2 Wilfrid Bossous can’t wait to get to Haiti — the country he left 26 years ago as a 13-year-old boy.

Though his father and brothers and sisters are all in the United States or Mexico, he’s still unsure if many of his extended family, uncles, aunts and cousins are still alive.

“I heard from my father yesterday — two of my uncles and one cousin died,” said Bossous, the amphibious assault ship Bataan’s air boatswain, overseeing much of the flight and hangar deck operations. He’s one of approximately 20 sailors of Haitian descent who are part of the ship’s crew.

“But those three weren’t in Port-au-Prince — we still don’t know the status of 20 to 25 other members of our extended family,” he said

From watching the news accounts, he said that one of the hardest hit areas, the Port-au-Prince neighborhood of Carrefour, is where he grew up. His aunt, who raised him as young boy, is still missing.

“She raised me from the time I was 7 months old, when my mother left to go to the United States,” he said. “I was with her until I was 13 years old and went to Brooklyn myself.

“The toughest part is the fact that you just don’t know — you don’t know the status of family members or friends.”

Bossous says that thought is constantly with him now, but he’s not letting it interfere with the job at hand.

“I’m a reserved guy, and keep my emotions to myself,” he said. “I’m not the kind of person who brings my work life home or my home life to work — I just don’t want anything to interfere with how I treat my people.”

Though uncertainty about his family members will continue to weigh on his mind, he says he’s “at peace with what’s happened, as I think God has a plan in all this,” he said.

Bossous joined the Navy in 1991.

After boot camp in Great Lakes, Ill., he reported aboard the aircraft carrier John F. Kennedy — then home-ported in Norfolk, Va., where he learned to be an aviation boatswain’s mate, aircraft handler.

He’s seen duty on three carriers and will most likely head to a fourth, the Harry S. Truman, when his tour is done next year.

But right now his thoughts are on bringing aid to Haiti, but he doesn’t know if he’ll be allowed to go ashore.

Fluent in Creole — the unofficial language of Haiti, something he says is a mixture of French and African languages — Bossous returned to his home country in 1994 as a translator during Operation Uphold Democracy.

He said he’d be willing to perform that duty again, but is yet to be asked.

In the meantime, he’s focused on helping run the flight deck, which is expected to on load an ad-hoc combination of heavy-lift Marine helicopters and as well as smaller Navy H-60 helos.

“Sure, I’d like to go, but I have a job to do here,” he said. “I’m a sailor and professional first, and I have to remember that — it’s a great feeling that we have all this capability and can bring it to Haiti to help.”

More on the disaster relief efforts in Haiti:

Comfort to join Haiti mission

Bataan heads for Haiti

CG cutter Tahoma helps bleak clinic in Haiti

Gunston Hall diverted from APS mission

Mullen: 10,000 troops on scene by Monday

Airmen providing relief after Haiti quake