partner, john, a consultants from bristol. in cave diving, they are pretty much as good as it gets. at the request of the thai command center, they were flown up from britain. on the ground, they almost passed unnoticed, just two guys in dark shorts, t-shirts. the british divers made their first exploratory dive on wednesday june 27, four days after the boys went missing. the challenge was immediate obvious, water the color of cold coffee, almost no visibility. swimming against a torrent of water, the engorged stream that runs through the cave. divers were able to what i down a crucial guide rope. and on the seventh day of diving on monday july 2, they found the boys perched on a rocky ledge and are were met by an unforgettable chorus of little
hou hours. they have been filling up the oxygen tanks so as we wait for the operations to kick back up, we thought it would be important to look back at the last 15 days to see how the kids got there in the first place. this is the wild boars soccer team before becoming trapped. the two boyce and their 24-year-old coach left their bikes at the entrance of the cave. they went in, unaware rainwater would flood them in. it would be a week before anyone from the outside world would reach them. how many of you? 13. 13? brilliant. reporter: these are the first images showing the boys huddled together on a rocky ledge. you are very strong. reporter: the footage was shot july 2 by a team of british divers. the days that followed included tireless rescue efforts involving thai navy seals and volunteers from europe.
the mission for another day. they believed that no one could possibly scale the mountain s steep cliffs and they believed in their work so they stayed. they continued their mission. there were 19 americans on the mountain that evening. when their shift was over, dick and his four men moved down to a small rocky ledge on a safer side of the mountain. and then, during the night, the enemy attacked. somehow fighters scaled the cliffs and overran the summit. down the side of the mountain, dick and his men were now trapped on that ledge. the enemy lobbed down grenade after grenade hour after hour. dick and his men would grab those grenades and throw them back or kick them into the valley below, but the grenades kept coming. one airman was killed and then
a third airman was wounded, then another. eventually dick was the only man standing. as a technician he had no formal combat training, in fact he had only recently been issued a rifle. but dick etchberger was the very definition of an nco, a leader determined to take care of his men. when the enemy started moving down the rocks dick fought them off. when it looked like the ledge would be overrun he called for air strikes within yards of his own position, shaking the mountain and clearing the way for a rescue. and in the morning light an american helicopter came into view. richard etchberger lived the airman s creed to never leave an airman behind, to never fault tere, to never fail. so as the helicopter hovered above and lowered its sling dick
they believed that no one could possibly scale the mountain s steep cliffs and they believed in their work, so they stayed. they continued their mission. there were 19 americans on the mountain that evening. when their shift was over dick and his four men moved down to a small rocky ledge on a safer side of the mountain, and then during the night the enemy attacked. somehow fighters scaled the cliffs and over ran the summit. down the side of the mountain dick and his men were now trapped on that ledge. the enemy lobed down grenade after grenade, hour after hour. dick and his men would grab those grenades and throw them back or kick them into the valley below but the grenades kept coming. one airman was killed and then another.