Marvel Crosson flew airplanes in Alaska before any other woman even thought about it—flew co-pilot with several of the most famous Alaska bush pilots then, in 1927 earned a commercial pilots license and could legally fly on her own. Thirteen-year-old Marvel, with her younger brother Joe, first saw an airplane fly at a state fair …
Tag Archives: Alaska
Entertainer
Entertainer Will Rogers made America laugh through the Great Depression—not easy. But his brush with Alaska left no one laughing. Rogers did radio shows, he appeared on other people’s radio shows. He wrote columns for newspapers. He appeared in movies. Sometimes he just made it up. But the consummate entertainer made people laugh. Almost as …
Flight Nurses
Flight nurses in WWII, took frightful risks and all too often paid for it with their lives. When flight nurse Ruth Gardiner’s plane “mushed” and plowed into the ground on Unmak Island, it exploded and Ruth died. WWII, an equal opportunity disaster, killed women as well as men. Link to another story “Marauding Japanese Forces” …
Frank Hinkel’s Adventure
Frank Hinkel, T4 bulldozer operator, pushing dirt over the wall of a canyon, got too close to the edge. His dozer followed the dirt over. Hinkel tried to jump but banged his head and sat back down; rode his steel mount down to the floor of the canyon. Luckily, the dozer landed on its tracks. …
Suddenly Climbing
Suddenly climbing into Keystone Canyon, a truck driver found himself working his clutch, hurriedly shifting down through the gears to the lowest one. Driving from the Port of Valdez toward the interior of Alaska he had just covered about 15 miles of rough, muddy, but misleadingly flat road. Now as his truck struggled up into …
Mike Gay’s Dad and Kiska in August
Mike Gay’s dad landed on Kiska at night. His First Special Service Force unit found plenty of misery—but no Japanese soldiers. Link to another story “Retaking the Islands” In response to their disaster on Attu, the Japanese had abandoned Kiska. Americans had even intercepted and decrypted the evacuation order, but one man on the ground …
Defending Alaska
Defending Alaska? In the runup to WWII some senior officers in the United States Army thought a lot about that potential problem. Most did not. In August1941 they called the Alaska National Guard to active duty and moved most of it out of Alaska. Territorial Governor Earnest Gruening had seen that coming and he urged …
Castner’s Cutthroats
Castner’s Cutthroats, a platoon of unique soldiers commanded by Colonel Lawrence V. Castner, launched into subarctic history shortly after the Japanese occupied Kiska and Attu in June 1942. Relentless cold, impenetrable fog and endless hurricane force winds called “williwaws” threatened the Japanese survival on their two captured islands far more than the Americans. The Americans, …
Lieutenants
Lieutenants? Where would the army be without them? In June 1942 Lt. Darrel M. Schumacher of the 340th Engineering Regiment cooled his heels in Skagway. He and his men would walk to the Teslin River as soon as the 93rd built them a trail. In the meantime, they waited. Then the Japanese bombed the American …
Emerging Alaska Highway
Emerging Alaska Highway, in June, had finally started rewarding the strenuous efforts of thousands of soldiers and civilians working through subarctic wilderness from Alaska south to Dawson Creek. Now came word of the Japanese in the Aleutians. None of them knew what to make of that. For some, of course, the Japanese assault justified their …