Alaska

Gambell National Guard members to receive Alaska Heroism Medal for 1955 rescue

Published

2 years ago

July 17, 2022

Gambell National Guard members to receive Alaska Heroism Medal for 1955 rescue

A part of the Lockheed P2V-5 Neptune wreckage nonetheless stays in Gambell. (Picture courtesy of Homosexual Sheffield/UAF Northwest Campus and Alaska SeaGrant)

The Alaska Nationwide Guard and the Alaska Workplace of Veterans Affairs plan to award the Alaska Heroism Medal to the households of 16 members of the Alaska Nationwide Guard in Gambell. The awards are being offered for the rescue of a downed Navy air crew nearly 70 years after the occasion.

On June 22, 1955, a U.S. Navy patrol aircraft took off from Kodiak with a crew of 11.

The crew’s mission was to patrol U.S. airspace, test navigational aids and doc sea ice, in response to Verdie Bowen, director of the Alaska Workplace of Veterans Affairs.

About 200 miles west of Nome, the crew encountered two Soviet MiG-15 fighter jets, which fired on them. They tried to cover within the cloud cowl, however the MiGs managed to disable one of many patrol aircraft’s engines, and the crew crash-landed on St. Lawrence Island about 9 miles south of Gambell.

David Assard, the navigator, described the touchdown in an interview with Alaska Dispatch Information in 2015.

“The touchdown was as lovely as you can think about, with the notable exception that, as a result of we had no wheels and there have been loads of boulders and rocks on shore, they ruptured the middle tank,” Assad stated.

He stated the gas ignited, inflicting a fireplace contained in the aircraft.

“Because the aircraft decelerated, the fireball didn’t, and it rolled ahead and burned all people,” Assard stated.

June Walunga, daughter of one of many Nationwide Guard members who responded to the crash, remembers being in Gambell and watching the aircraft come down.

“I used to be seven years outdated, and I bear in mind the sound and the aircraft going over Gambell,” she stated. “It was thundering to us. You already know, we by no means heard that type of sound again then. And it’s proper there very near your head. And shortly after that, I noticed smoke.”

Not one of the crew died within the crash, however all of them sustained accidents, together with burns, shrapnel and bullet wounds.

Employees Sgt. Clifford Iknokinok and three different members of the Gambell First Scout Battalion have been seal searching close by and made their method to the crash website regardless of the Soviet fighters persevering with to circle overhead. Upon realizing that they didn’t have the mandatory tools to assist the air crew, Iknokinok set off for Gambell to collect extra help. Earlier than he made it to Gambell, although, he bumped into a number of of his fellow Nationwide Guard members, who have been already on their means to assist.

The Nationwide Guard members used umiaks to move the injured air crew again to Gambell. June Walunga remembers them arriving on the town.

“I bear in mind I used to be holding my mom’s hand, and we have been strolling in direction of the seaside the place the boats have been coming in, they usually have been carrying these folks on stretchers going up the seaside. Some had bandages wrapped on them and their arms; a few of them have been midway up on their shoulders,” Walunga stated.

After arriving in Gambell, the crew’s accidents have been handled. A workforce from Elmendorf Air Power Base retrieved them two days later. Bowen says it was solely because of the fast motion of the Gambell First Scouts that each one 11 members of the air crew survived.

But when this all occurred in 1955, why is the Nationwide Guard awarding medals in 2022? There’s a easy motive, in response to Bowen.

“In 1955, there (have been) no peacetime medals within the lively navy or within the Nationwide Guard,” he defined.

Brigadier Normal John Noyes offered the members of the Gambell First Scout Battalion with letters of commendation for his or her actions.

“For that point, that was applicable for 1955 and, in actuality, that was the one factor that he actually had in his awards department to supply,” Bowen stated.

In November of that yr, the U.S. Navy additionally acknowledged the Gambell First Scouts by awarding Honorary Naval Aviator Designations to Grasp Sergeant Willis Walunga and Employees Sergeant Clifford Iknokinok, the senior members of the unit. The opposite members acquired letters of appreciation from the Navy.

After a overview by Main Normal Torrence Saxe, the present adjutant common of the Alaska Nationwide Guard, the awards have been upgraded to the Alaska Heroism Medal, at the moment the best award for heroism within the Alaska Nationwide Guard. The medals will probably be offered to the households of the members of the Gambell First Scout Battalion and Cpl. Bruce Boolowon, the one surviving member.

The total record of recipients is as follows:

Grasp Sgt. Willis Walunga
Employees Sgt. Clifford Iknokinok
Sgt. Herbert Apassingok
Sgt. Ralph Apatiki Sr.
Cpl. Bruce Boolowon
Cpl. Victor Campbell
Cpl. Ned Koozaata
Cpl. Joseph Slwooko
Pfc. Holden Apatiki
Pfc. Lane Iyakitan
Pfc. Leroy Kulukhon
Pfc. Woodrow Malewotkuk
Pfc. Roger Slwooko
Pfc. Vernon Slwooko
Pfc. Donald Ungott
Pvt. Luke Kulukhon

The award ceremony was initially scheduled for July 9, however resulting from inclement climate, personnel from the Workplace of Veterans Affairs and the Alaska Nationwide Guard have been unable to land in Gambell that day. The Nationwide Guard and the Workplace of Veterans Affairs say they are going to work with the group and household representatives to reschedule the occasion.

Click on right here to look at the total Strait Science presentation specializing in the Gambell Nationwide Guardsmen and their heroic rescue mission from 1955.

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Alaska

Augie Hockey team on long, cold, dark road trip to Alaska for 2 weekends

Published

1 hour ago

December 13, 2024

Press Room

Augie Hockey team on long, cold, dark road trip to Alaska for 2 weekends

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (Dakota News Now) -The Augustana hockey team has certainly put on the miles thus far. They haven’t been home much.

But this road trip is unlike any other. They are in Alaska for 2 weeks where it’s cold, it’s dark and they will play 4 games on 2 weekends before coming home. But head coach Garrett Raboin thinks it’s actually an ideal situation for his guys.

Augustana Hockey Coach Garrett Raboin says, “These are the fun road trips that you remember. There’s moments throughout your college career and some of it doesn’t have anything to do with hockey. It’s being together with your best friends. And our guys get a chance to do that and as a staff we’re excited to tag along…”

The Vikings play two more games next weekend. But their next home game isn’t until January 17th. They split the 2 games at Fairbanks and play Anchorage this weekend.

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Alaska

After a yearslong delay, Air Force agrees to send more refueling planes to Alaska

Published

8 hours ago

December 12, 2024

Press Room

After a yearslong delay, Air Force agrees to send more refueling planes to Alaska

An Alaska Air National Guard KC-135 Stratotanker from the 168th Air Refueling Wing at Eielson A.F.B. photographed at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson on Sunday, Jan. 17, 2021. (Bill Roth / ADN)

Four additional KC-135 Stratotankers, the lynchpins of the U.S. military’s aerial refueling operations, have been assigned to Eielson Air Force Base near Fairbanks, and with them around 220 additional personnel to maintain the aircraft.

News of the decision was announced Wednesday by U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan, nearly four years after the Air Force first stated its intention to move the planes to Alaska.

There’s still no firm timeline as to when the tankers will be in place.

The aircraft were originally expected to arrive at Eielson in 2023, but that failed to happen. In October, Sullivan sent a stern letter to Secretary of the Air Force Frank Kendall asking for clarity on the matter.

“I am writing to express both my concern and frustration with years of stalling and rejection on the part of the Air Force to deliver vital aerial refueling assets to Alaska and with the state of aerial refueling capacity across the joint force,” Sullivan wrote.

According to Amanda Coyne, Sullivan’s communications director, Kendall relayed the decision reaffirming the military’s decision to bring four additional KC-135s to Alaska this week, though there is not yet a final timeline for when they will arrive and be put into regular use.

“The Guard and Eielson are excited for these new planes to come online,” said Alan Brown, communications director for the Alaska National Guard, which will be in charge of the aircraft. “To be granted these additional aircraft is a validation of their commitment to the mission and how important that mission is in the Arctic and Pacific regions.”

Brown said the Guard in Alaska received an email this week from the deputy director of the Air National Guard that the Air Force had “approved the final decision” on basing the planes in Fairbanks.

Aerial refueling is the military capacity to add fuel to various planes in mid-flight, thereby extending their range. Though Alaska’s fleet of cutting-edge fighter jets has grown in recent years with the arrival of dozens of F-35s, the number of Stratotankers used to gas them up during trainings and intercept missions has remained flat, straining existing planes and personnel.

There are no new Stratotankers. Of the roughly 400 KC-135s still used by the Air Force, most were built in the 1960s and have been steadily maintained and upgraded over the decades, a fixed stock that is shifted between bases and units. A newer model tanker designed to take over the military’s refueling mission, the KC-46 Pegasus, has been racked with problems, cost overruns, and delays that have meant the aging Stratotankers have remained the workhorses of U.S. air power in Alaska and around the globe.

“I have relentlessly pressed the Air Force to fulfill its commitment made to me in 2021 to redistribute four KC-135 tankers to Eielson, and I am glad to report it is finally happening,” Sullivan wrote.

The additional KC-135s will belong to the Alaska Air Guard’s 168th Wing, but be maintained and flown by active duty Air Force personnel. The four extra aircraft brings the total number of Stratotankers used in Alaska to 13.

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Alaska

University of Alaska Anchorage Launches Alaska Natives into the Psychology Program

Published

16 hours ago

December 12, 2024

Press Room

University of Alaska Anchorage Launches Alaska Natives into the Psychology Program

Details: By Native News Online Staff; December 12, 2024

The Indian Health Service granted The University of Alaska Anchorage Ph.D. Program a $1.2 million grant to support Alaska Native and American Indian students pursuing degrees in psychology.

AI/AN people represent only 0.13% of the psychology workforce. In Alaska, where 22% of the population is AIAN, there is a need for mental health research and services that represent and reflect the communities it serves. Provider shortages in rural areas, along with a potential lack of cultural understanding, can lead to AIAN Alaskans being unable to access mental and behavioral health care.

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The five-year grant will launch the Alaska Natives into the Psychology Program, or ANPsych. Dr. E.J.R. David, a professor of psychology at UAA who led the grant application, will serve as the ANPsych program director.

“We need an approach that centers trust and relationships with AIAN communities, one rooted in collaboration, focused on strengths and committed to addressing systemic barriers. By emphasizing Indigenous and rural psychology, UAA’s psychology Ph.D. program is uniquely suited to address AIAN mental health needs in a more culturally congruent manner,” David said in a press release.

Guided by a cultural advisory board and in collaboration with community organizations throughout Alaska, ANPsych will recruit Indigenous students into the UAA Psychology Ph.D. Program, support their educational journeys and connect them with tribal health organizations.

Additionally, ANPsych will provide full scholarships to qualified and eligible AIAN students who are accepted into the UAA Psychology Ph.D. program. The scholarships include a monthly living stipend, tuition and fees, a book allowance and research support. Upon graduation, ANPsych Scholars are expected to provide health care in organizations that serve AIAN communities.

For more information about the new ANPsych Program, visit the ANPsych website at uaa.alaska.edu/ansych.