The Beverly Wickersham Collection

January 1971 - December 1971

REALLY BIG! Each normal photo is 1024 pixels wide or high and zooms even bigger. It has its own gallery so you can find that little trawler and really zoom on it. Beware, the biggest images are about 5 megabytes each!

Start the slide show by clicking on START Each page includes in its title bar the file name of the photo itself for easier selection and most photos are labeled on the file name and title bar.

Each photo is clickable; clicking on the photo advances you to the next photo. Below each photo is a set of links (buttons) to advance, return, or exit the slide show. Each photo includes a button to ZOOM to a larger size.

A thumbnail gallery is available for visually selecting photos. If you choose this option, clicking a thumbnail puts you into the slide show at the photo chosen; from there the slide show proceeds with the remainder of the show.

Commentary on Adak, January, 2004

I never did roam about the island like a lot of people obviously did, because a lot of the places didn't seem familiar to me at all. I stayed up on our end of the island most of the time, venturing down to the px every couple of weeks for film, or for something different to look at. I have met several people since I have been out of the Navy who were on Adak, mostly older people who were there during WWII. It was very interesting to see the pictures from that era. The special on PBS a few months ago showed a lot of the same or similar images.

I was on Adak from January 1971 to December 1971, never having to spend Christmas on the island. I went to Russian Language school in Washington D.C.. The other language school in the country was in Monterey, California. Those of us who had to go to D.C. felt cheated. Since I played golf, Monterey would have been heaven. I think you could play Pebble Beach in 1969 for about $25, compared to about $300 now. Of course I didn't have the $25 back then either. There were several D.C. interpreters on Adak when I was there. Joe McFadden was my cubemate. Pete Boice, Ken Sherfey, Chris Hoff, Dennis Mauser, John Laplante, plus some others whose faces I remember, but not complete names.

After leaving Adak, I went back to Washington, and served out the rest of my four years at NSA. Like many others in our area, I never set foot on a ship during my tour.

Two eventful things happened while I was on Adak, I'm not sure in what order.

There was at some time, an atomic test performed on or near an island in the Aleutian chain to the west of us, which some experts thought might cause damage on Adak and the surrounding area. We were prepared, at least mentally, to run back up the hill in case of a tidal wave. This had all of our families worried, but nothing came of it. I don't think even a ripple was seen.

There was also a nice earthquake. From reading on your website, I have learned, or relearned, that it was on April 1, 1971, and was 7.2 on the Richter scale. I remember very clearly being in the gym, watching a movie. It started very slowly, as many small quakes had done, and continued to build for what seemed like a long time, but I'm sure it was no more than 30 seconds. The movie screen, which was hanging directly in front of the basketball goal, began to swing back and forth, and the building shook quite severely. There was no military bearing in our reaction, no single file marching out the door. We all made for the exit as fast as possible without running over anyone in the process. We got outside, and by then, it was over. The people who were outside when it happened said they could see it coming across the tundra like a wave. Damage was minor. No buildings were harmed that I recall. Lots of lockers were turned over though, and minor damage was quite common. Again, a cause for alarm for all our families, but I believe the Red Cross notified everyone that we were. alright. We had several other small quakes after that, but none of consequence.

I also remember, but had forgotten, Oly beer, Harvey Wallbangers, and grilled tuna fish sandwiches in the grill outside the Ptarmigan club. I remember well the 3 or 4 lane bowling alley. I had a friend, who I think was a T brancher, named John Bothe, who was a great guy, and the smoothest bowler I ever saw. I remember the winds of Adak, and the poster in the hallway which explained wind-chill factors, the first mention I ever saw of them. Chill factors are used today in weather reports to make the weather sound more dramatic, but the winds on Adak really did bear watching.

I remember Reeves Aleutian Airways. I think I read somewhere after leaving Adak that they had the worst accident rating of all American airlines. Easily understandable, having experienced the winds they were forced to fly in. On my initial flight out to Adak from Anchorage in January, 1971, our flight was delayed because of winds. The night before we left, there was a strong wind which blew about 1/2" of snow under our door in the motel room. When we got to the airport, small planes had been blown all over the frozen lake next to the airport, and the hangar which housed our plane had blown over, trapping the plane inside. They used some type of crane to raise the door up, got the plane out, and away we went. The scariest flight I ever had. About a year after I left Adak, a Japan Airlines plane crashed flying from Seattle to Anchorage, carrying some Adak personnel. Then several years after that, a plane, maybe a Reeves Aleutian, crashed into Mt. Sitkin coming in to Adak.

I have gone through all of my old slides and prints, and cleaned the best of them up as well ias I could. I will describe them as well as my memory allows.

adkO100 -This is me, looking out over Clam Lagoon on one of the nicer days we had.
adkO101 - From partway up Mt. Adagdak looking south toward Zeto Point. On the right is Clam Lagoon, on the left is Sitkin Sound, and beyond Clam Lagoon is Kuluk Bay. At the far end of the lagoon a spindly bridge, called Candlestick Bridge, is sometimes open for traffic. It is a great place to catch fish when the tide comes in.
adk0101b -Climbing Mt. Adagdak the easy way. I think this was frowned upon, but what a great day. View south to Zeto Point.
adk0101c- Reverse the first two; now we are looking north TO Mount Adagdak from Zeto Point. Clam Lagoon is the big water on the left, the Bering Sea and Sitkin Sound is the big water on the right. Interesting to note that the three big "golf balls" at Zeto Point have not yet been built.
adk0102- Looking across Clam Lagoon on an unusually still day.
adkO103 -The obligatory shot of the Adak National Forest. It is interesting to see how these trees have grown over the years.
adkO104 -Probably looking across Clam Lagoon again. I took a lot of shots around there because it was convenient.
adk0106- I don't remember where this was, but I've seen it in pictures others have sent in. A good photo op.
adkO107- At the northwest corner of Kuluk Bay. Looking south along Navfac Beach to Norpac Hill and Monument Hill way in the distance.
adk0107b -From the same location at the NW corner of Kuluk Bay, looking east to Zeto Point and halfway there is Command Car Hill with some rocks out in the water.
adkO107c -Same eastward view but higher on the cliff.
adkO108- On the north side of Mount Adagdak.
adkO109 -Obviously somewhere down by the docks in town. I don't know anything at>out the ship, except that it is not one of the Soviet ships.
adkO110 -Another shot across Clam Lagoon. We had lots of brilliant sunrises, but you had to be there to get them. Working mid-day-eves made it hard to take advantage of all of them.
adkO111 -I guess this must be Mt. Moffit.
adk0113 -Probably Clam Lagoon again.
adk0114- I'm not sure who this is, but it shows how tough the tundra grass is to walk through. I'm glad I did this when I was young. I'd hate to think about attempting it now.
adkO115 -Our welcome sign.
adkO116 -I guess this is looking across Clam Lagoon also, with Sitkin in the background.
adk0118 -I guess this is a surviving WWII shack of some sort. Probably didn't last much past this due to the normally strong winds.
adk0119 -Two unknown fishermen at Clam Lagoon. I don't know what they caught there, but there was usually someone fishing on the decent days.
adk0120 -Mi. Sitkin looking across Clam Lagoon.
adk0122 -I don't know what that rounded cliff is called, but it is the most recognizable feature in many Adak pictures to me.
adk0123 -I don't know what these flowers were, but they weren't around long.
adk0124 -One of the sunrises I did get there in time for.
adkO125- My only decent eagle picture, and it admittedly isn't very good.
adk0126 -This is Steve Risley, my supervisor. About 5 years after I got out of the Navy, my wife and I were eating out somewhere, and I saw someone I could have sworn was Steve. Went up to him and glad-handed him and everything. Not him. Pretty embarassing.
adk0127- Barracks shot. Looks like this was taken with a telephoto lens, but I didn't have anything but a Mamiya-Sekor 500 DTL with a 55mm lens. Maybe I borrowed a lens from someone else.
adk0128 -Those of us who were awake during the classes in which we were taught to recognize ships from their silhouettes would know what this is. I, unfortunately, was not one of those people. (Probably one of the combination USSR fishing-trawler/AGI's that sometimes hung around Adak, this one sure looks closer than the three mile territorial water limit)
adk0129 -Flag football. I think that is Clam Lagoon in the background.
adk0130 -John Laplante, with whom I went to language school. John became a professional photographer after the Navy.
adk0132 -One of the fair-weather fishermen.
adk0133 -Ken Sherfey, a classmate at language school; very interesting guy.
adkO134 -John Laplante, another classmate, and photographer .
adk0135 -Pete Boice, also a classmate, last heard he was teaching school in New England somewhere.
adkO136- Chris Hoff, another classmate, may also have become a teacher.
adk0137 -John McFadden, also a language school classmate. My cubemate for most of my stay on Adak, and a super guy. Last heard he may have been in Louisiana, although he was from the midwest.
adkO138- Steve Risley, my supervisor, I think a T brancher, maybe R, and a cool guy also. Have no idea where he was from or what he is doing.
adkO139 -Dennis Mauser, another language school classmate, I think from Chicago, or thereabouts. Haven't heard anything from him.
adkO140- I'm not sure where this is; probably on the eastern part of the island.
adkO141 -Mt. Sitkin on a clear day.
adkO142- Probably Clam Lagoon, because it was there.
adkO143 - Lake Betty, view south. The little waterfall is the head of Finger Bay stream. I think I was only down on that end of the island one time the whole year.
adk0143b -This is me again Sitting on a rock looking at Finger Bay Stream. View is to the northeast; the stream flows away from the photographer into Finger Bay. It comes out of Lake Betty which was in the preceeding photo.
adkO144- Looks like it could be Mt. Adagdak, although I'm not sure.
adkO145 -Another coastline shot, looking east. I would love to hear from anyone who was on the island. I am like a lot of people who were on Adak. I hated it while I was there, but have great memories of it.

B I have included the pictures of the people I can name in hopes they, or someone who knows them, might recognize them and get in touch. I would be glad to share any of these or other pictures I have with anyone interested.

Beverly