Six U.S. Army helicopters were forced to land unexpectedly when their flight from Lithuania to a temporary Polish base near the German border encountered bad weather. According to Bloomberg, the thick fog caused the aircrafts to land in a field in the remote village of Gruta – much to the surprise of the small, rural community.
Because the town is only 100 miles outside of Kaliningrad, Russia, residents were initially alarmed that the helicopters were related to the turmoil in Ukraine. Once the community of 1,600 people realized the commotion was being caused by Americans, however, they flocked to the field to meet the servicemembers and take pictures with them, reported CNN. They even handed out pamphlets written in English with information about their town. The village's website has been updated to include photographs from the exciting encounter.
Gruta resident Waldemar Krukowski told Bloomberg, "Those Americans were really heaven sent. Now, when I think about it we could have served them some food, but we were in shock and the boys had to go."
Military Times noted that the dangerous weather forced six other American helicopters to land in the town of Nowa Wies, roughly 290 miles away.