The William Conrad Collection

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GALLERY of small photographs

SLIDESHOW of all photographs.  Just click on the photo (or links under each photo) to advance.



Adak, Alaska from 1959 through 1961.

I was on Adak from 10/1958 thru 3/1959 aboard the USS Tawasa (ATF-92). The ship was a fleet tug. While on station at Adak, we delivered equipment and people to Attu, Atka, Shemya, St Paul, St George, and maybe Amchitka (I'm not sure about the last one). I was actually on every island in the Aleutians that had people on it, or so they told us. We were tied up at the pier when Alaska became a state.

I returned to Adak for a tour of duty in September 1960 where I was stationed at the Naval Station. I was a RM3, lived at the Birchwood barracks and worked in the radio shack at the control tower. I finally left Adak (and was discharged at Treasure Island) in March 1962. I spent 16 months on the island between 60 and 62. For excitement I would fly radio for the P2V squadrons that were stationed there, always hoping there would be a problem and they would have to divert to Hawaii..no luck.

It is interesting that in my four years in the USN, I spent 3 Thanksgivings', 3 Christmas' and 3 New Years' on Adak.

I should have taken more photos, but black & white was still very popular, and I was using a Polaroid. As it is, the Ektachrome slides are in bad shape, they are all shades of red (corrected in the scanner, they sometimes come out blue).