We selected this cruise because it stopped in Kodiak where Bill was stationed in the Navy in 1962 and 63. He was a communications specialist working on the DEW line.
It stands for Early Distance Warning. It was aimed at keeping an eye on Russian interceptions into U.S. air space.
Bill is pointing to Barometer Mountain in the next picture. He climbed up there and slid down a glacier, tearing out the seat of his pants and losing his wallet. The wallet overwintered on the mountain. Someone found it and returned it to him in the spring.
This family performed for us when the ship arrived in Kodiak.
Next is a picture of Bill at his duty station in Kodiak. He has lots of stories about Kodiak. When the wind was really whipping, the airplanes had to be tied down. There were "small people warnings" for those who weighed less than 150 pounds. They were could go airborne inadvertently just like the airplanes.
Bill told me a story a P2v Neptune that crashed on Barometer Mountain. It was an anti-submarine plane. They had them in Kodiak because the Russians were constantly pushing the limits. (Like they are now.)
"The plane was coming in for a landing and took a wrong turn. Our officers told us not to go up there so naturally I did it anyway. The main part of the plane had already been removed. I was looking around but didn't notice a piece of metal sticking out of a tree. I bumped against it and gashed my leg. It bled very freely so I didn’t think I needed a tetanus shot. I couldn’t go to the Infirmary anyway because I would get in trouble. I cleaned it up in the shower and then put Band Aids on it. That wasn’t enough so I bound it up with a t shirt and went to bed. It hurt a lot. "
(In 2021, we ordered a Kodiak patch for his jacket.)
Here we are sailing out of Kodiak in 2010 happier than we were before our walk down memory lane.
