Story from Wayne Kanorr's trip to Thule air base in 1968 - 1969

My name is Wayne Kanorr and I was stationed at Thule as a telephone repairman for the 1983^rd Comm Squadron, right after the B52 crash. The building we worked out of was Building 465, which was where the Central Office was for telephone switching and the telephone operators, and switchboards were also in that building. Those of us in Outside Plant were located in the front of the building. Outside plant consisted of the people for telephone installation and repairs and usually one antenna person and one person for cable repair. We all worked together to help one another at Thule and due to the harsh weather climate we were kept busy through the year as something was always breaking down.

I won't talk about the plane flight as it was 8 hours long leaving from McGuire AFB and stopping off at Goose Bay and then Sonderstrom before finally continuing on to Thule. By the time we got to Sonderstrom I had completely lost my manhood and I didn't think it could get any worse. God!! , no one had told me about Thule other than it was cold there! Stepping off the plane at Sonderstrom was miserable at best. I kept asking myself how much worse could Thule REALLY be? Well folks, I was about to find out just like the others that went before me and after me to Thule Greenland. The most northern US Air Force Base in the world located at Thule Greenland. Oh, did I mention Thule was COLD! ! ! !

Now I grew up an Indiana Farm Boy and I had been through a few bad Indiana winters at close to 15 below for a few days but nothing prepared me for Thule. I'm not sure one can or could get ready for Thule. Your body has to acclimate when you get there and coming from the US in February where the temperature was around 32 degrees F above 0 and going to Thule where the temperature was 30 degrees F below 0. That's a 60-degree drop in temperature to what my body, and others, were use to. I know I have forgotten but did I mention that Thule was COLD! ! !

At the end of the two weeks I became the military's outside telephone troubleshooter. That meant that I had to be outside most of the time going from place to place to place. We were housed in building 465 which is where Inside plant (telephone switching equipment was located) and the telephone operators were located. The only good thing was that I had a truck (a Dodge Power wagon #446) to drive around base and off base at my disposal. Everybody always wanted to ride in the truck to the chow hall or the mailroom. The heater in the truck was a good heater but I don't think it got the inside air much above 20 degrees in the dead of winter and you had better not take your gloves off and put your hands on the steering wheel. That's like sticking your tongue to a flagpole in the dead of winter. Did I mention how COLD it was at Thule? ! ! !

One of the first duties I had to perform was to run communication cables from base to the B52 crash site. They didn't want to use radio communications for fear that the Russians would intercept the radio signals. There was a strong rumor that there was a Russian Sub under the ice somewhere around the crash site. I don't know and I never found out if that was a fact or not but it sure wouldn't surprise me if they were. Most of the people that worked around me were involved in some part of the B52 crash cleanup, some of us more than others. We were told that there was nothing to worry about and we believed them and who THEM were was the base commander and all the people between him and those of us that were out there cleaning up. Let's face it, NOBODY was dropping over dead from radiation sickness, at least NOT that I know of or found out about while I was up there. Yes, a few got HOT but that was pretty much it. You lost your boots and clothes and you got a good scrubbing but that was about it as far as I can remember.

Being I was the outside telephone troubleshooter I always had to go out to the crash site for one reason or another. I have to say something here in that I didn't go out there because I wanted to. I was being kept very busy with the normal telephone problems on base and so only if there was a problem did I have to go out there but then again there were always problems out at the crash site; Telephones not working, cables being run over and cut. There were a number of things that just happened during the cleanup phase that I spent my fair share of time out at the crash site. Including the time I spent out there picking up the pieces of what was left.

On the base, right before I got there, they started installing a cable checker in central office. That was supposed to check each pair of cable wires leaving Central Office and determine whether or not they were bad. When they first turned the cable checking system on, as I remember, it caused serious problems and had to be turned off and then the guys who installed it had to find out what had happened and finally they fixed the problem.

When they turned it back on they set it at the LEAST sensitive setting and we had hundreds of failure reports to check out. In the long run this would be helpful but in the very beginning I had to go out to where every pair went and find out what the problem was and fix it or determine that it wasn't a problem during the course of my normal troubleshooting duties. Some times it was just a bad cable pair and we had to swap it to another cable pair. When I got the initial list of bad problems done they increased the sensitivity settings and we would get another batch of cable problems to check out. This was an ongoing process all the time I was at Thule.

Around the second week of June someone brought up the fact that I had strung all that communication cable from base to the crash site and that they were wondering what would happen if that cable got tangled up in the propellers of the cargo ships or Ice breakers that would be coming into the bay. The decision came down that all that cable had to be recovered off the ice. I don't want to go into a lot of detail but I made them order me to go out and get that cable off the ice. The ice at that time was dangerously thin. We couldn't drive our trucks out there because the ice had started to melt and get thinner.

Because of the sun and the heating effects some of the ice had melted and refrozen which caused some of the cables to be captured in the ice. Even I wasn't strong enough to pull the cable out of the ice and it would take us forever to use a pick and shovel to remove the cable from and off the ice going out to the crash site. At least not in time before the Ice Breakers came into the bay breaking up all the ice and pushing it out to sea. We were able to get our hands on a Snow Cat and with it we were able to get out on the ice and remove the cable from the ice. We basically tied the cable to the back of the Snow Cat and started driving toward base.

If the cable should happen to break we just found where it wasn't embedded in the ice and connected it to the back of the Snow Cat and drove toward the shore. It was a very dangerous task as the ice was melting and there were places that were not frozen over. I know of two separate occasions when we almost fell through the ice in the Snow Cat. Even its lightweight with those large treads weren't enough to keep it from breaking through the ice in some places. Any of you that have been up there realizes that the ice is getting thin around the middle of June and one does not venture off on the ice.

I believe it was said that if you fell through the ice you had 20 seconds before the nerves in the back of your neck would be paralyzed. After that you had no control over your body and would most certainly drown because you would not be able to pull or drag yourself out of the water in time to save your life. Your only hope was that someone would pull you out in time. That is why you did not venture out, on the ice, by yourself. As many an Eskimo has found out. We removed most of the cable off of the ice and what we didn't; must have fell to the bottom because the Ice Breakers and the cargo ships or Oil tankers didn't get any twisted around their propellers at least not that I heard about.

I was also responsible for certain equipment that was located in the Tower and in RAPCON. To say I was busy was an understatement. A GEEIA team was up there making mods to the equipment in RAPCON and I was volunteered to help them so that someone would know what was done to the system after they were gone. I was on call 24/7 but I worked as a telephone troubleshooter from 8am until 5 pm and the GEEIA team normally did their work at night between 5PM and 2AM. This way they were usually not in anyone's way while they made the mods to the equipment. So after I would eat supper I would go up to RAPCON and help them make the modifications to the equipment. This went on for almost 4 months.

That year we had the IG inspection team come up to Thule. I can only assume that it was because of the B52 crash as so much attention was being focused on Thule. It was my understanding that the IG inspection team had NEVER been to Thule before, not until after the B52 crash did they go up there. If you want to see Generals, Base commanders and career minded military people get scared. Threaten them with an IG inspection team. I can NOT begin to tell you what it was like up there. Not only were we still cleaning up from the B52 crash but we had the IG inspection team up there breathing down our necks. That did not make for a pleasant stay at Thule as you can well imagine. Well, at least not for some of us who were in the military. The IG inspection team found many things wrong ( which is their job ) while up there. One of them I had to laugh at. I was forced to go around and put lightning protection on the wooden telephone poles that were up there. Now I don't know about you but when was the last time Thule had a lightning storm?

We did have a major incident while the IG inspection team was up there. Thule is a stop off place for all the remote arctic sites around the North Pole. They fly equipment and supplies into Thule and then from Thule they are dropped off at the different remote research sites, usually by C130s with snow skis on them.

This one day a C130 declared an emergency. I believe that there were 5 people as passengers on board as well as loaded down with cargo. I forget the nature of the emergency but I think it had something to do with one of the landing gears. In the event of such an emergency there is a Bail Out Alarm that is set off warning people in the remote buildings around the runway that an airplane has declared an emergency. When this Bail Out Alarm goes off your supposed to get out of those buildings and get away from the runway as far as possible.

You guessed it. They hit the Bail Out Alarm and it didn't activate. There were no bells, horns or sirens going off. Now even if the IG inspection team wasn't there this would be a bad situation but with the IG inspection team there it was disastrous. To say CRAP hit the fan would NOT be stating it correctly or accurate enough. All Hell broke loose as the radio in my truck goes off. I answered it and I was told to get my butt to the tower ASAP, to see why the Bail Out Alarm wasn't working.

In the meantime the C130 is doing flybys at the tower as they are trying to figure out if they really have a problem. We had good cable records but for some reason the Bail Out Alarm wasn't where it was supposed to be in the cable. I then asked the guys in Central office to throw a tone on the circuit so I could find and trace it. That didn't work either, as I couldn't find a trace of tone anywhere on the incoming terminal strip going to the tower. The IG inspection team is witnessing first hand a real serious situation and it isn't getting any better.

I am running to the different places that the Bail Out Alarm is supposed to be at and I can't find or even hear a faint trace of the tone signal that the guys in central office is putting on the line. I ask them to monitor the signal and assure me that the tone is going out. They listened with their test sets and they let me hear the tone through my headset as I'm talking to them. I got desperate and said okay lets put this on another pair and let's just get it working and then I'll figure out what has happened later after things have calmed downed.

They picked another pair and it didn't work either. So now they picked another pair and it didn't work. Now we have big problems! Something is wrong somewhere and we can't determine how the Tower's signals are getting to it. I can't find any signals or even faint tones on any of the cable pairs. In the meantime the C130 is still circling Thule wanting to land and for some reason they won't let it land. I think part of it was that they wanted to evacuate all the buildings along the runway and no one wanted to go out there and make sure the buildings were empty or to tell them that they needed to evacuate the buildings.

This was one big Catch 22 (C F for those of you military minded). This seemed to go on for the better part of two hours. While all this other confusion is going on, I'm driving from place to place trying to figure out where the cable going to the tower is coming from since the records in Central Office don't match what I'm seeing. They finally radio instructions up to the C130 to have the 5 people lay down on the cargo floor in a certain pattern and then to land. As I recall, it all went off with out a problem. It seems like everybody was watching the fire trucks and medical truck racing down the runway to the C130 as it is landing on the runway.

Me, I'm being severally chewed out for not being able to get the Bail Out Alarm up and working before the C130 landed. I'm getting angry because this alarm is supposed to be checked either every 24 hours or each change of shift. Somebody didn't or hadn't been thoroughly checking out the Bail Out Alarm. Later that night (remember 24 hours of daylight) I went back to the central office and looked at the Base cable layout diagrams myself. Henning (the guy working in the telephone switch office) and I decided that we would start from Central office and I would work my way to the tower. To make a long story shorter I found that the cable ran to an abandoned building on the flight line and from there it went to the tower. In the abandoned building is where the problem was and this wasn't shown on any of the base cable drawings. It was now, and I found where all the missing cable pairs that I couldn't find earlier had gone. They were all in that abandoned building.

I believe it was sometime in mid to late July I was summoned to the 1983^rd Comm squadron headquarters. I was told that I had to drive this person around base for a week or so, so that he could make radiation measurements because of the B52 crash earlier that year. They wanted to make sure that the radiation levels were okay. So for the next week (it seems like it ended up being almost two full weeks) I drove this person ALL over Thule. I was probably the best choice since I had driven and knew almost every square inch of Thule by that time.

This guy just basically sat in the truck and I would take him to the places he had listed in a small pocket notebook and then when we got there he would get out and with several different pieces of strange looking equipment he then supposedly made radiation measurements. He didn't say much for several days but in the course of watching me perform my duties with out question he began to tell me a little of what he was doing up there. In all honesty I don't remember much of it anymore but I do remember he was scared as hell of being there.

This man was scared. I tried to calm him down but I can assure you that he did not want to be any where near Thule. He told me eyeball to eyeball that he couldn't get out of there fast enough. I then began to talk to him and told him that I had gotten up there after the crash and that I had to run the communication cables from base to the crash site and that I also had helped in some of the cleanup out there, like a lot of the others had also. I remember him asking me what I had worn out there and told him pretty much what I had on. I only had one pair of combat boots and my short Blue parka, which I wore because I might have to climb a pole or tower and it was just too hard to climb in a full parka. I remember him making me stop the truck and making me get out as he ran one of the pieces of equipment over my body and especially my boots and parka.

He told me that I was clean and that made him feel a little better but for a few minutes there, I thought he was going to go crazy on me. One of the last things he said to me before he left was that if I had a chance to get out of there to take it and don't ask any question and don't look back because he wouldn't be surprised if the base wasn't there any longer. There was an ominous reflection in his voice when he said that to me and I couldn't get him to elaborate on what it was he meant. We shook hands the day before he departed as I dropped him off in front of the building he was staying in and that was the last I saw or heard of him. I asked him if he would be back and if so to look me up if I was still there. He said NO I will not be back and that was it. I had taken him all around base and places off base that even I hadn't been to before and watched him take his different pieces of equipment and log his results in that little notebook. For me, I saw more of Thule that year than most people who have lived there for several years. In some respects I was glad to be busy because it helped pass the time up there.

Some time early in August, over a weekend, Henning and I decided we were going to walk south off base. Henning was a rock hound and always wanting to find some Thule Jade. We headed south off base and several hours later we ran across someone who had driven off base and was stuck in the loose dirt on the side of the road and so far he couldn't get his vehicle unstuck. Now this was a Danish person, whom I don't remember his name anymore. The problem is that he was by himself. He was sure glad to see us as we got him unstuck and he asked if we wanted a ride at which we said no. We kept walking south along the shore and there were many caves along the shoreline. Henning and I went into several and we found that Eskimos had used them for shelter. We found magazines and pants and shirts and jewelry from the BX in these caves. The magazines were from this year so the Eskimos had been there recently but then again when the B52 crashed; they used Eskimos and their dog sleds to get to and from the crash site.

About 10 hours out from base we came upon a large cave opening surrounded by snow and ice. We walked in a little ways and let our eyes adjust to the dark. We hadn't brought any flashlights with us, which probably looking back was a mistake but then again we had 24 hours of sunlight. After a few minutes our eyes started to adjust and we started walking back into this cave. We got back so far that the opening we entered was just a small dot as we looked back. All of a sudden we heard this strange noise and we became a little concerned but we kept going back farther. All of a sudden we hear this big moan like sound and we looked at one another and we start running back toward the opening teasing each other on who's the most afraid. I beat Henning out of the cave by a foot but he was right behind me and we ran up the shoreline about a hundred feet and stopped.

There we were, bent over gasping for breath and laughing at one another for being a scaredy cat. We're laughing and teasing one another wondering if what we heard was a polar bear. We were standing there catching our breath for several minutes and then we started to walk away when we heard that awful sound again. As we turned around to see what it was we saw the entrance of the cave, we had just been in, collapse covering the entrance completely. Henning and I just stood there and looked at one another not saying a word for a long time. To this day I don't know what that sound was.

Maybe it was our Guardian Angels warning us, I really don't know. Looking back though, no one knew where we were or that we even walked off base. We didn't tell anyone and we didn't leave a letter or message in our rooms as to what we were doing. If we would have been trapped in that cave there was no way we would have gotten out. We had no flashlights although Henning and I each had a cigarette lighter on us. We had a little food with us and some water but we had no way of digging our way out of that cave, except for our hands and pocket knives. To say that we were lucky is putting it mildly. No one would have known where to look for us. We would have been AWOL from Thule.

Our bones would probably still be in that cave. Henning and I then walked backed to base never saying one word to one another all the way back and we never spoke to one another, about the cave incident, as long as we were up there. Every now and then we would just stare at one another but we never talked about it again. It shook us up, that is for sure. We were lucky. We were VERY lucky! Henning left a few months later and we have never met or talked since. Henning went to Alaska from Thule where you were allowed to hunt and fish. That is what Henning and I wanted to do at Thule but because we were in the military we were not allowed to do either because the Eskimos needed the wildlife as their food, as our food was provided for us by the military.

Thanksgiving and Christmas came and the food was excellent up there and as a young person I ate all I could. The Danish people up there prepared the food in the chow halls and I never had a bad meal at Thule. I take my hat off to those people whom prepared our food. They did an outstanding job.

The first week of January 1969 I was summoned to the 1983^rd Comm Squadron. I was to see the Wire Officer. Two sergeants who had been working in the Comm center, for some reason removed over half the wires from the terminals on the wire frame. These wires came from Central Office and went to the Comm center and then out to P Mountain. One of the sergeants had just rotated back to the states and the other had just left on leave. Someone complained that they didn't have the communication circuits between the Comm center and P Mountain and when they sent someone to investigate why, they found all these wires on the wire frame just dangling in the air.

The worst part was that none of the cable pairs, which are all the same color, were NOT labeled in any way, shape or fashion. On top of that, there are NO notes as to where these wires get connected to on the wire frame. I'm asked if I would take a look at it and tell them how bad it is and whether I can fix it and or what the real situation is. I went over to the Comm center and they escorted me back to where the wire frame was and I looked in dismay as all I could see were these wires (Over a hundred pairs) just hanging in mid air not going anywhere and most of the cable pairs had been untwisted and to put it bluntly it was a giant mess. The captain asked me what I thought and wanted to know if I could fix it; as the one sergeant had just left on leave and wouldn't be back for at least 30 days. The captain told me that a few of the guys there had tried to fix the problem but they didn't have a clue as to what to do as they couldn't find any notes anywhere and no one knew why these sergeants had removed all these wires from the frame to begin with.

I told the Captain that without knowing where every wire went to I would have no way of knowing what terminals to connect them back to on the wire frame. I was bluntly told that I was their only hope since they couldn't find any notes and the one sergeant wasn't coming back and the other wouldn't be back for at least a month. I said that I would try but I wasn't making any promises.

It was January and things were mellow on base and nothing really going on so I started to try to figure out if there was some way to figure out where the wires went. I know that's double talk but you can't begin to imagine the mess I see before me. To say it bluntly How the Hell am I going to do this, is what I kept asking myself. I needed a point of reference so I called Central Office and told them what the situation was and asked if there were anything in the base cable layouts that would help. It turned out that there were some old drawings but they hadn't been updated for quite some time. As I am the outside telephone troubleshooter I work with several of the guys in Central Office every day in the fixing of the telephone problems on base. I call in to the trouble desk where someone is there all the time and they can assist me in fixing the problem from the test console.

This job is not going to be easy but according to the cable diagram we need to buzz each pair and see if I can find it on the terminal of the wire frame in the Comm Center. I was able to get most of them buzzed out and labeled so I knew what they were, as they came from Central Office. Now I called P Mountain and talked to the guy out there and whom I had spoke with several days before and had told him what my plans were. I told him that I had almost all of them labeled from Central office but that I still needed to match them up with what was going to P Mountain. Now please keep in mind that these are just wires sticking in the air. They are supposed to be paired up, but they are not. These, for the most part are just loose single wires of just two different colors, just like the ones I had to pair up coming from Central Office.

Again, with the help from the guy at P Mountain I was able to pair up the cables. Now came the fun part. Now I needed both Central Office and P Mountain together on the line at the same time so we could confirm and connect both ends to the middle. It took me 7 days around the clock to complete the task. The Captain kept coming in offering to help me in any way possible. He was a good Captain and I didn't find many like him during my military days. This Captain actually cared about the people under him and I must say that he was strictly military. He would pop in and bring me food and something to drink. (Coffee or soda pop, sorry NO BOOZE!) If I had taken a drink of alcohol I never would have been able to fix that mess. A few times I had him hold cable wires as I was trying to pair them up. I got so tired that I told the guy at P Mountain and the guy at the Test Console that I just had to sleep and I would just lie back against the wall and catch a couple hours of sleep and then wake up and go at it again. I managed to do it in 7 days and 6 nights of hard work thanks to the guy at P Mountain and the guys on the Test console. Without them I could not have done it.

The sergeant finally got back from leave and he too was surprised that the wires were all put back and the circuits restored to operating condition. The Captain, after talking to this sergeant, later told me that they had not made any diagrams of where they were pulling the wires off of and that this sergeant didn't have a clue as to how he was going to put them back on the wire frame. I never was able to find out why they removed all the wires in the first place and let's face it; by this time I didn't care anymore. I told the Captain to please not let them do that again. He smiled and we had a good laugh at that one. Oh, I got another steak dinner compliments of the Captain. Thanks, Captain.

We went through several bad storms while we were stationed at Thule one of them was of particular interest to me. We were in a Phase 3 and had been for over a day. I received a phone call at the barracks that one of the Bomb Alarm circuits was down and needed to be fixed. It seems that SAC(Strategic Air Command) was running an exercise and that our Bomb Alarm circuit was all that was keeping the board from being clear. The Bomb Alarm circuits were in case the Russians nuked us. The people back in Cheyenne Mountain would know that something happened and would take appropriate actions.

Now this information is 35 years old and I'd like to think that we have better circuits up there today then when I was there. To the best of my memory there were three such circuits and only one of them was out and they (the Mountain) knew that we were still there but they wanted their board to be clear because they were running a SAC Mission. I talked to the Mountain and explained that we were in a Phase 3 and that the winds were over 100 Mph and that even if I wanted to; I doubt I could fix it because I would be blown away before I got to where it was. They didn't care, and wanted to know who was my commanding officer and I told them. A short time later I received another phone call from dispatch stating that I was to go out and fix the Bomb Alarm circuit. I again said that we were in a phase 3 and that there was no way I could be asked to go out and fix that circuit and by the way we are in communication with the Mountain and they know we are still here.

A few minutes later another person called me from the Comm center and he was the officer on duty and he told me that I was to go out and repair the Bomb Alarm circuit. I again told him that we were still under a Phase 3 and that he could not make me go out in a Phase 3 storm unless we were under attack. He told me that the storm was going to be down graded to a Phase 2 and that I was to go out and repair the circuit. I told him that the only way I would go is if I got a direct order to do so. I was told to stand by and to get someone else to take with me as we had to travel in pairs off base. A few minutes later another officer from the Comm center talked to me and gave me the direct order to repair the Bomb Alarm circuit.

I was told that in about 15 minutes it was going to be announced over the PA system that the storm was downgraded and that there would be a vehicle outside my barracks ready to take me to my truck with who ever was going with me. I asked several people in my barracks and no one wanted to go. I then asked Rapach ( I hope I spelled it right) who was the antenna person and who worked with us in outside plant. We all had to work together up there. That is the way it should be and it was. Rapach agreed to go with me and I explained to him that this wasn't going to be a picnic. In the mean time I called Central office to find out what was going on and what I had to do. They already knew I had to go out.

I knew who was on the desk, we all lived in the same barracks, and so I was told what had been done up to that point in time, down at Central Office, to find the problem. We had a good pair going to BMEWS but they couldn't see the Bomb Alarm circuit when it was connected so I felt pretty sure where the problem was. The problem seemed to be out at the BMEWS site. We had a good pair of wires going out to there but they couldn't see the Bomb Alarm Circuit. I talked to a guy out at the BMEWS site and he knew I was heading out and wished me luck. I told him that I needed more than luck to make it out there in this storm. I joked with him that he better have something stronger than coffee when I got out there and we both laughed as we hung up. The announcement was made over the intercom system that the Storm had been downgraded to a Phase 2. I got Rapach and sure enough there was a vehicle sitting outside our barracks door. We got in and headed off to the building where my truck was kept.

Rapach and I got into the Dodge Power Wagon and I radioed in to the Dispatch center that I was ready to depart and if there were any further instructions. I was told that a pair of snowplows would be waiting for me at the edge of the base around the Tower and escort me out to BMEWS. I then radioed back that Rapach and I were leaving the garage and heading for the edge of base.

As we approached the edge of base there were the two big Oshkosh's. I radioed in that I was stopping and going to meet with the guys in the trucks. I got out of my truck and went up to see who was going to escort me out to BMEWS and what their plans were. Knowing most of the Danish guys up there helped out a lot as we had fun together from time to time during the past eleven months. We had played cards and drank a few (lots of) drinks together and smoked a lot of cigarettes. I knew the guys that were going to escort me and we joked a little and they wanted to know who I pissed off to be going off base in a Phase 3, even though it had been downgraded to a Phase 2. I told them that I had to go out there and asked them if they had a plan. One was going to clear the path in front and the other was going to follow behind me in case something happened and I said that was okay to me. I said that I wasn't in any hurry to get out there as the wind was blowing fiercely probably around 160 Mph with gusts going higher.

These guys knew the road better than I did and I wasn't worried about them. I however was worried about Rapach and me in that little Dodge Power Wagon. There's not a lot of weight to keep us from being blown off the road. I went back to the truck and radioed in that I was leaving base and that I would check in every ten minutes if possible. I told them that Rapach might have to call in, as I would be fighting the winds trying to keep the truck on the road. I then flashed my lights to the Oshkosh in front of me and off we went to BMEWS. As you can imagine the winds are blowing fiercely and the snowplow in front is clearing the path and snow is being blown everywhere. I just kept driving between the twinkles of light. Now for those of you that don't remember; there were large reflectors that were placed on both sides of the road and I forget how far apart they were spaced but they were close enough that you could drive on the road as long you weren't in a complete white out.

Which by the way we were almost in because of the Storm. The truck is being pounded by the wind and I'm fighting to keep the truck between the twinkles all the way out there. It seems like it took us forever to get there but I don't think it was much over 45 minutes to reach BMEWS. The guys in the plows had made many trips during their stay up there and I trusted that they would get me there. When we arrived I radioed in that we were there and that I was going to go inside and that I would radio in when we were leaving. We pulled into the compound and we all went inside to warm up. The guys in the snowplows went off to get them some coffee and something to eat but Rapach and I didn't have time to do that, as we needed to get the Bomb Alarm circuit fixed. We were met, on the insides, by the guy (sorry, but I have forgotten your name so I'm going to call you Bob) I had talked to earlier. Bob was a civilian working out at the site. He joked about us taking so long to get there, for a few minutes, as we tried to get warmed up a little.

In a blizzard the hot air from the heater in the truck just gets blown right out of the truck. It was cold driving from base to BMEWS and we were a little frozen. On my way out there Bob had decided to follow the wire pair and see where it went. It turned out that it came off the wire frame and using standard telephone aerial cable went through the side of the building through a little hole in the outside wall. He decided to pull on the cable to see what happened and he showed me the end of the cable. I had already assumed that since we were in a Phase 3 (although downgraded to a Phase 2) that the aerial cable probably snapped. It looked like my suspicions were correct, now the ONLY problem I had was where did the cable break? I knew where the Bomb Alarm circuit was located. Why it wasn't mounted on the top of the building I do not know but it wasn't.

It was mounted on a telephone pole on top of a mound of dirt outside the building where you entered BMEWS. So now, I had to figure out how I was going to fix this. I was hoping that the cable had just been snapped somewhere between the building and not out of the bottom of the Bomb Alarm housing. If it had broken off there it was going to be a long night. That meant I would have to remove the Housing from the pole and bring it down the pole and re-wire it and take it back up the pole in this storm. I didn't like the fact I had to climb a telephone pole in all this wind to begin with. We measured the length of aerial cable on the inside of the building and I couldn't tell if it was long enough to reach the top of the pole.

It looked long enough but I couldn't tell for sure. I decided that I was going to take a chance and splice onto the aerial wire and then climb the pole and see if I could find the other end. If not then I would lower the Bomb Alarm to the ground using the cable as a rope and go from there. Now I can't begin to tell you all the things that are going through my head. I wasn't happy and I couldn't do anything about it and no one in charge gave a Damn that we were in a Phase 3 and even though they (Cheyenne Mountain) knew we were still there, because they were talking to us and the other two Bomb Alarm circuits were still working. I still had to repair this Bomb Alarm circuit in the middle of a Phase 3 snowstorm.

I told Bob what my plans were and that Rapach and I were going to try to splice the wire and hope for the best. So I asked Bob to go ahead and stick the end of the cable back through the outside wall and when I found it I would pull it to the truck and splice it in the truck. Rapach and I went outside and hugged the outside wall looking for the cable and we found it and then we pulled it to the truck and tied it to the truck I yanked on the cable and pulled a little extra out.

I knew where the pole was but I had to back my truck up and get it out from the building and next to the mound of dirt where the telephone pole was that held the Bomb Alarm circuit. I managed to do that as I was talking to Rapach and explaining what it was I was planning to do. After I pulled the truck next to the mound, which is covered in snow, I got out of the truck and went to the back and pulled the aerial Telephone cable off the reel and stuck it through the wing of the truck on the drivers side. I then went around to where I had tied the cable that we pulled from the building and brought it over the front of the truck and stuck it through the wing also.

Now comes the hard part. I have to climb the pole wearing gaffs. That's those little spikes you put on your feet to climb poles. There comes a time when you just have to trust in yourself and your equipment and unfortunately this is just one of those times. Rapach wants to know what he should do and I explain to him that I'm going to climb the pole dragging the wire with me. He is to stand at the back of the truck and make sure that the wind doesn't tangle up the cable as I'm climbing. I believe this pole is a sixty footer and it's going to take me a little while to get to the top. The wind is so strong we can barely hear ourselves talk outside the truck and there is no way we can communicate while I'm climbing the pole and Rapach can't see me after I start climbing and I can't see him. I unreel more than enough cable on the ground and climb the mound to get to the base of the pole with Rapach standing there with me. What I was hoping for was that I could find the other end of the cable coming from the Bomb Alarm circuit, as I was climbing the telephone pole, and somehow in the darkness make a splice. Bob had left the cable disconnected from the wire frame on the inside so I didn't have to be worried about being shocked.

For those of you that haven't or don't go around climbing poles for a living or for fun you must keep your body away from the pole as you climb or the spikes will not stick into the pole but will slide right down the pole and you with it. I speak from personal experience here as I have ridden a pole a time or two for different reasons. You usually pick telephone pole splinters out of you for a week after it happens. With the wind blowing as hard as it is; I have to climb the telephone pole with the wind blowing in my face, which also means that the wind will be pushing my body away from the pole. If I climb the pole with the wind to my back my body will be pushed into the pole and down I will come because the gaffs (spikes) on my feet won't hold me to the pole.

Most of the time I just place my hands on the pole and balance myself as I climb but with the wind blowing so hard and the pole swaying above I will not be able to keep a tight enough grip with my hands while climbing. That and the fact that I have the telephone aerial cable tied to my belt and the weight of that and the wind whipping it around and tugging on your waist cause you to lose balance from time to time. So this means that I will have to climb the pole using my belt. Some pole climbers like to climb this way and others of us do not. You have to keep both your hands on the climbing strap and you keep sliding it up the pole as you climb where as if you climb with your hands it's just like climbing a ladder.

The wind is blowing so hard that I have to climb using my climbing belt. That also means that the strap holding me away from the pole can flex allowing me to fall into the pole. The swaying of the pole also allows the strap to give and take as the pole is swaying back and forth. Please keep in mind that we are not talking about a little wind of 10 to 20 Mph here. I'm talking about a wind of a Phase 3 snowstorm that is whipping across the ice cap. There is a big difference.

I started to climb the pole with the wind blowing in my face. I can't begin to tell you what that is like and I pray to Almighty that you never find this out first hand. All you can do is to just take one step at a time and please keep in mind that the aerial telephone cable is tied on to my climbing belt. I have the wind whipping around me at who knows how fast and the snow is being blown right in my face as I climb up the pole. The top of the pole is being rocked back and forth from the force of the wind as I try to keep my gaffs stuck into the pole. This is probably what it feels like being a Bull rider but about half way up I'm being tossed around on that pole something awful and the only thing keeping me there is my climbing belt and the gaffs on my feet. Before I got to the top I felt the sting of the cable coming from the Bomb Alarm hitting my body.

The wind is just whipping that loose cable probably just likes a Bullwhip and every now and then the cable is stinging me as it hits me. I have to keep climbing up and finally I get to where I think I can stay at and finally I grabbed the cable as it hit me. I wrapped it around the pole for good measure just to keep it from getting away from me and hitting me again. I am very near the top of the pole as I'm trying to keep my balance as the pole is swaying a good 12 to 24 inches in one direction and then snapping back the other way 12 to 24 inches off of center. This isn't funny as I'm trying to keep my balance on the pole and trying to keep from being blown off. I've got 150 Mph winds or better blowing me around on top of the pole and it is a ride for my life. I think only another pole climber can truly appreciate the position I was in. Was I scared? What do you think? All I could picture was the pole snapping off and me being blown over the edge up there and that's a 2000 feet or more drop to the bottom, for you who know where BMEWS is located.

I finally managed to splice the wire at the top of the pole and I taped it to the pole as I climbed down. When I got to the bottom there was Rapach waiting for me. I had cut the cable coming from the reel at the top so I could splice it to the cable coming from the Bomb Alarm circuit. Thankfully I cut the right one and it fell to the ground. Rapach thought I had been blown off the pole for a minute or two, as about 40 feet of cable came tumbling down on top of him, until he realized the other cable was still going up the pole. Rapach had wound up the cable back on the reel on back of the truck by the time I got back down on the ground.

Rapach said he was glad to see me and we joked a little, about the cable falling on him and what he thought at that moment in time, before we got back into the truck. Rapach then helped me get my gaffs and climbing belt off. As you can imagine I was frozen to the bone and how I made it back down I can't truthfully answer. I pulled the truck back over to the building and we went back inside and Bob was there waiting for me. Bob had coffee waiting there for us; thinking that we would need it and of course he was right, we did. Bob went over and connected his end of the cable back onto the wire frame as I called in to Central office to see if they saw a good circuit now. They did and I asked them to call Cheyenne and get them on the line for me. I verified that the board was now clear and that the Bomb Alarm circuit was now back in operation at which they confirmed to me that it was. I was thanked for my cooperation in the matter at which time I hung up on them.

I left the aerial telephone cable lay across the road going from the building to the pole and told Bob that I would be back when the storm died down to make a permanent repair. There was no way I could string an Aerial telephone cable in this storm. I wouldn't be able to see it for number one and the other was I wouldn't know if it was tight enough so that it wouldn't droop down later after the winds had subsided. Just leaving it on the ground was the best choice at that moment in time.

I radioed in that I was heading back and the trip back to base was just like the trip out there. The old Dodge Power Wagon being blown all over the road from the winds. The Oshkosh's stopped at where I had met with them earlier as I radioed in that I was back on base and heading to the garage. I got out of the truck and thanked the guys in the snowplows for getting me out there and back and we joked a little and I told them I owed them a drink later, at which they agreed. I then got back into the truck and headed off to the garage and radioed in that Rapach and I was at the garage and was ready to go back to the barracks. A vehicle came and picked us up and delivered us back to our barracks and then I phoned from the barracks that Rapach and I were back in the barracks.

I believe we were in a Phase 3 for almost three days. When the storm was down graded and we went back to work I went to the Wire Chief, who was a Captain, and filed a formal complaint. He said that he did not know of the incident until I told him. Of course nothing was ever said or done about my complaint.

Some still wonder why I feel the way I do about being at Thule. Some go there, put their time in and either get out or go on to their next duty assignment without giving it a second thought. Thule is one of those rare spots that always come back to haunt you when you least expect it. The B52 crash caused us to become very close because we had to work together to get things back to normal again after all the excitement.

Those of you at Thule at different times didn't go through what some of us went through because of the B52 incident; kind of like trying to imagine what the early days of Thule were like. I have met with some people who were there in the early 60s and then again in the late 70's and returned in the early 80s. They saw the different changes from the time they were up there before. When I was there we had an Airman's Club, a NCO Club, an Officer's Club and a Service Club. The best food was served in the Airman's Club. The best drinks were in the NCO's Club. Yes we had a Hobby shop and a Gymnasium (I loved the Hot Sauna) and a Movie Theater.

There was no TOW (Top of the World) Club. The BX was across the street and one building up from my barracks whose number was 254. The Mailroom was next door to where I worked out of, Building 465. I'm sure I would be amazed if I stood on base today to see all the changes that have occurred in the last 35 years. Those big screens I was use to are no longer there; now replaced by a smaller Phased radar unit. P Mountain I'm told is no longer there.

These are places I visited regularly in the course of my duties. Mt. Dundas is still there, of course. How could you not remember Mt. Dundas? Sticks out of the bay like a sore thumb. We all came away with a different little piece of Thule in our heart. Not all my days were bad or hectic, just most of them. When I left Thule in March of 1969 RCA was supposed to be taking over more of the operation of the base in July. The Military was just going to be support and security. I helped install the Satellite tracking consoles in the Comm. Center before I left. I was told about a few of the new antennas and dishes that were going to be installed later that year. The base seemed to be growing again for the first time in many years.

I didn't tell you about the Chief Master sergeant who cut a Dead Cable, in RAPCON, with a pair of Bolt cutters while there was a plane on approach. Took RAPCON off the air including the approach radar. The backup generator came on and "POOF" took out the backup generator and the secondary circuits. I guess the cable wasn't dead after all.

I didn't tell you about when one of the Ice breakers (East Wind or West Wind) limped into port with its rudder knocked off its hinges or what ever it's called. I was down there when one of the diver's buddies was hollering for help to pull his buddy out of the water. I ran over and helped him pull his buddy out of the cold water as he was down there trying to fix the rudder. They were taking turns. I think they could only stay in the water about 15 minutes and then they literally had to be pulled from the water because it was so cold. I talked to the guy I pulled from the water back in 2002. We met by accident on the Internet.

I didn't tell you about the time I had to climb one of the towers on South Mountain and I almost didn't make it down. I was so frozen that I couldn't feel my feet and my hands were frozen solid. They had to carry me from the tower and slide me into my truck so that I could get unfrozen. I had no feeling in my legs and so I wrapped my climbing belt around the tower tightly and just let my body slide down the tower until I got to the ground.

I didn't tell you about being on a Helicopter ride and Buzzing Mt. Dundas more than a dozen times. Or the sight from on top of Mt. Dundas looking around in all directions. Whether you landed on top or climbed to the top the view can't be done justice in a picture or video clip.

I didn't tell you about the time I got a frantic call on my truck radio and they wanted me to go out and check one of the telephones out at one of the Emergency Shelters. For those of you who don't know or have forgotten; there were Emergency Shelters (Phase Huts), I think every half mile between Thule Base and BMEWS. These shelters were for emergency use only; incase you got caught off base and a storm came up. The weather reports back then are probably as about useful as they are today, just my guess though. You could leave base where the sun was shinning and blue skies and 15 minutes later all Hell would be breaking loose around you. Blizzards, at certain times of the year, came out of nowhere. In these Emergency Shelters was a heater and food (military rations) and usually a military cot or some sort of bed to lay on and of course a Telephone. Let's face it, if you're unfortunate to get caught off base during a blizzard and you're in a white out condition your not going to drive or walk very far before you get disorientated. The shelters were there in case a storm came up while you were traveling off base. Those shelters have saved a life or two.

Well this one day I get a frantic call on the radio to go out and check the telephone out at this one shelter site. Every one of the telephones was directly connected to the Telephone operator's switchboard located back in building 465. If you picked up one of the telephones in an Emergency Shelter a light lit on the telephone operators switchboard and a buzzer sounded. That phone had priority over most calls. The operators would then have to answer that telephone call to silence the buzzer. These phones were for emergency use only or incase you were traveling off base and got caught in a storm or if for some reason you were hurt and needed emergency assistance or possibly your vehicle broke down. Instead of freezing to death in a vehicle you would drive, or walk, to the nearest shelter and stay there until the storm stopped or subsided enough you could continue on. You would tell the operator who you were and some other information so the people on base would know where you were and that you were safe in one of the shelters should you be caught off base during a blizzard. I never had to use a shelter while I was there but I came pretty close to having to once.

I was told that one of the telephones kept going off and sometimes there were strange noises on the line when the operator answered the telephone. Eskimos, every now and then, would use the shelters to get warm or to eat the food. The operators were concerned that it might be someone hurt but before they dispatched an emergency vehicle I was to go out and check the telephone to see if I could find out what was wrong. Well, as I approached the Emergency Shelter I noticed a small blue car near it and recognized who it belonged to. I called out and no one answered back so I opened the door to the Emergency Shelter and I saw a man and a woman ( one of the nurses from the hospital ) in the throws of passion. They were so busy that they didn't even know I had walked in. They finally noticed that the door was open and that I was standing there ( with a big grin on my face as you can imagine ) and asked what was I doing there. I then pointed to the telephone and told them that they had been going at it so hard that they were causing the telephone handset to bounce on the cradle and it was showing up on the Telephone switchboard. That I had been sent out to see what the problem was and if there was an emergency I was to call in and let them know.

While the two of them were getting dressed I picked up the telephone and one of the operators answered. I told them that everything was okay and to please patch me over to the Test Console so that I could check the line out. We checked the telephone line out and verified nothing was wrong as I'm being asked what happened and I just said that someone stopped here because they didn't feel good and fell asleep on the bed and that somehow the telephone was being rocked back and forth enough that the handset was causing it to go off hook. Of course I told the guys what happened when we got together later but for now no one needed to know. The nurse pleaded with me not to tell anyone and I said that I had to tell them something back on base or when I radioed in because they thought someone was hurt out here and was going to send an ambulance if need be.

When I got to the edge of base there sat a military police vehicle stopped on the road. I stopped and talked to them and told them I had found this guy out there and that for some reason he fell asleep and that he should be coming right behind me shortly. I couldn't wait for him because I had another call I had to get to. I was asked if anyone was with him and I said that I didn't see anybody else but all I did was to check the telephone out to make sure everything was in working order. I then left the military police sitting there waiting for this guy to come back on base and I was hoping that somehow this guy would get the nurse back on base safely without being detected.

Later that day I am summoned (called on my truck radio). I am to report immediately to my CO (commanding officer). Now it could have been for several reasons I kept telling myself. I walked in to the 1983rd Comm squadron headquarters and walked up to the First Shirt (First Sergeant) and asked what was going on. I was told that the Old Man wants to see you NOW!

I walked in to the CO's office and snapped him a salute as the door behind me is being closed. Now I hate to say this, but this is NOT a good sign. Yes, you guessed it. The military police had stopped this guy and searched his car and found the nurse. My CO wanted to know why I didn't tell the military police about the nurse. I knew the Old Man wanted the truth and so I told him the story of what happened and he listened intently. I told him that I didn't want to get the nurse in trouble and that I thought that this was the right thing for me to do.

I didn't know that the military police were going to search the car and all I had really done was to check out the telephone and got out of there. Who's to say I saw anyone else other the man I told him about. I saw a small grin come over his face and although he did not agree with me he understood my reason for telling a little fib. He wasn't going to punish me because I had told him the truth but in the future I had better tell the military police everything. The Old Man stood by me and nothing was ever done to me because of that infraction. I was lucky that they didn't throw the book at me.

I didn't tell you any stories about the different Rock and Roll bands. The bands had to have Go Go Girls with them. They spent 4 weeks at Goose Bay and then 4 weeks at Sonderstrom and then their final 4 weeks at Thule. From Thule they went back home. Some of those girls left Thule with a lot of extra money. We got a call from Sonderstrom that one of the girls was sick and to pass the information on. The call came in to Central Office and I just happened to be standing there when the call came in. That is the only way I knew about it. When the girl arrived at Thule she was taken to the hospital and put in quarantine.

It's been 35 years and yes I would like to go back and see the old place, this time with my wife so I could take her around and show her where I spent my time. I took several pictures while I was there of the different places around Thule and sent them to her, but as all of you who have been there know; no picture or videotape can do Thule the justice it so truly deserves. If I had to pick a time I would pick the third week of July, when the temperature is a little more moderate and the ships and the oil tankers are busy unloading in the Bay. Or at least that is the way it was when I was up there. Just a week, no more! Just to see what the old place looks like now.