Frozen in Time Read online

  The U.S. Coast Guard honored the ship in 1984 by bestowing the name Northland on a new 270-foot cutter that today patrols the Atlantic, the Caribbean, and the Gulf of Mexico.

  THEIR FAMILIES NEVER forgot John Pritchard Jr. or Benjamin Bottoms. Nor were they forgotten by the men they served with, or by those who followed them in service.

  The most visible memorials to their heroism are the residence halls named in their honor at the Coast Guard facility in Alabama. Their names also are inscribed in granite on the U.S. Coast Guard Aviation Memorial in Elizabeth City, North Carolina. Atop the memorial is a quote from the book of Exodus: “I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself.”

  Countless other, less public, tributes have been made to their heroism and their sacrifices. And as long as there is a U.S. Coast Guard, there will be countless more. John Pritchard and Ben Bottoms are honored every time Coast Guard rescuers go out, knowing that they might not come back.

  BACK AT THE Hotel Kulusuk, on the last day we were all together, I pulled a dollar bill from my wallet and asked for the signatures of my sixteen fellow expedition members. It’s my own Short Snorter membership certificate, and it’s one of my most prized possessions.

  When Lou saw me passing around the bill for signatures, he wanted to join the club. He smiled, shrugged, and turned his palms skyward: “Can I borrow a dollar?”

  Three days after we discovered the crash site, after a dozen members of the expedition had gone home and the storm had passed, I returned to the glacier with four others: WeeGee, Jim, Lou, and Jetta. We melted more holes at BW-1, bringing our total to twelve, and located more wires and other objects from the Duck, all at thirty-eight feet under the surface. We had hoped to pinpoint the position and orientation of the fuselage, and perhaps locate the bodies, but frozen hoses and issues with the Hotsy intervened.

  Later, Jim determined that the first pieces WeeGee and I saw were “the wing rib from the reinforced section of either the upper or lower wing, near the fuselage, where cables attach to stabilize and reinforce the wings.” What we originally thought was a fuse box was most likely the Duck’s “Large Junction Box,” designed to allow four electrical cables to pass through the wing. Best of all, the objects were located perhaps two feet from the plane’s fuselage. Jaana’s flag placement above the anomaly had been perfect.

  At this writing, Jim and Lou are planning a follow-up expedition to recover and repatriate the remains of Pritchard, Bottoms, and Howarth. Jim’s superiors at the Coast Guard are on board, working closely with Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command. We’ve been e-mailing and talking regularly, and when the follow-up expedition happens, I intend to be there. Next time, whether we need it or not, we’ll have a Snublebluss. The polar bear warning system that Lou ordered from England was waiting for him upon his return from Greenland. Meanwhile, WeeGee has taken to calling our against-the-odds discovery “the miracle on ice.”

  Lou is still sorting through the bills from the 2012 expedition and making plans for 2013 and beyond. After completing the Duck Hunt, Lou has his eye on a mission memorialized on another one of his patches: locating and recovering the C-53 with the bodies of McDowell and his crew. To Lou’s credit and to the benefit of my credit rating, he sent me a chunk of the money from the Coast Guard contract to help cover my American Express bill.

  Nancy Pritchard Morgan Krause was thrilled about our findings. But the actuarial tables for a woman her age tempered her excitement: “I hope I’m still here to see John brought home.” I hope so, too.

  THE 2012 DUCK HUNT EXPEDITION TEAM: (BACK ROW, FROM LEFT) RYAN SAPIENZA, ROB TUCKER, MITCHELL ZUCKOFF, ALBERTO BEHAR, MICHELLE BRINSKO, FRANK MARLEY, NICK BRATTON; (MIDDLE ROW, FROM LEFT) JETTA DISCO, LOU SAPIENZA, JIM BLOW, TERRI LISMAN, STEVE KATZ, JAANA GUSTAFSSON; (FRONT ROW, FROM LEFT) W. R. “BIL” THUMA, KENNETH “DOC” HARMAN, ROBERT “WEEGEE” SMITH, JOHN BRADLEY. (U.S. COAST GUARD PHOTOGRAPH BY JETTA DISCO.)

  Cast of Characters

  (In Alphabetical Order)

  HISTORICAL

  BERNT BALCHEN—A Norway-born aviation pioneer, Balchen became a colonel in the U.S. Army Air Corps during World War II and commanded the northernmost American base in Greenland. He was the first to spot the downed B-17 PN9E and was instrumental in planning and executing rescue efforts.

  ALFRED “CLINT” BEST—A tech sergeant and cryptographer at Bluie West One, Best volunteered to take part in the search for Homer McDowell’s missing C-53 aboard the B-17 PN9E.

  BENJAMIN BOTTOMS—A Coast Guard radioman from Georgia, Bottoms volunteered to serve alongside pilot John Pritchard Jr. during the Duck’s fateful mission to rescue the B-17 PN9E crew.

  MAX DEMOREST—A gifted glaciologist with a doctorate from Princeton University, Demorest sidetracked his academic career during the war to become commanding officer of a rescue outpost on the east coast of Greenland called Beach Head Station.

  HENDRIK “DUTCH” DOLLEMAN—Born in the Netherlands, Dolleman was a sergeant in the U.S. Army who spent time in Antarctica before being sent to Greenland to take part in rescue efforts.

  CHARLES DORIAN—An ensign aboard the Northland and later a Coast Guard captain, Dorian alerted the ship’s captain to the sighting of the lost Canadians. He served as a primary source and technical adviser on this book.

  BERNARD “BARNEY” DUNLOP—A U.S. Navy lieutenant, Dunlop was the pilot of the PBY Catalina/Dumbo used in the rescue efforts at the Motorsled Camp. His crew included copilot Nathan Waters, flight engineer Alex Sabo, radioman Harold Larsen, and Dr. P. W. Sweetzer, medical officer at Bluie East Two.

  WILLIAM EVERETT—A corporal who was a crew member on the C-53 cargo plane that crashed in Greenland on November 5, 1942.

  RICHARD FULLER—A Coast Guard ensign aboard the Northland who volunteered to go ashore to lead what he thought would be a two-week rescue effort. He and his fellow Coast Guardsmen were stuck on the ice for five months.

  DAVID GOODLET—Pilot of the Royal Canadian Air Force A-20 that crashed in Greenland on November 10, 1942.

  JOSEPH HEALEY—A sergeant, Healey served on the crew of Admiral Byrd’s 1933–1935 Antarctic expedition before becoming a dogsled driver on rescue teams in Greenland during World War II.

  FRANK HENDERSON—A navy ensign who was pilot of the backup PBY Catalina during the rescue mission.

  LOREN “LOLLY” HOWARTH—Radioman on the B-17 PN9E that crashed on November 9, 1942, while searching for Homer McDowell’s lost C-53. Howarth’s work rebuilding the broken radio was credited with making possible the B-17 crew’s survival. He was aboard the Duck on November 29, 1942.

  THURMAN JOHANNESSEN—A private who was a crew member on the C-53 cargo plane that crashed in Greenland on November 5, 1942.

  HERBERT KURZ—Navigator on Kenneth “Pappy” Turner’s supply B-17.

  EUGENE MANAHAN—A staff sergeant who was a crew member on the C-53 cargo plane that crashed in Greenland on November 5, 1942.

  HOMER MCDOWELL—A captain who was pilot of the C-53 cargo plane. His crash on the east coast of Greenland on November 5, 1942, set in motion the search-and-rescue efforts by the B-17 PN9E and the Grumman Duck.

  J. G. MOE—An army captain who served as navigator on Jimmie Wade’s unsuccessful attempt to rescue the survivors at the Motorsled Camp.

  ARMAND MONTEVERDE—A captain from California, Monteverde was pilot of the B-17 PN9E that crashed on November 9, 1942, searching for Homer McDowell’s lost C-53. Monteverde’s leadership was credited with helping his crew survive after the crash.

  AL NASH—Navigator of the Royal Canadian Air Force A-20 that crashed in Greenland on November 10, 1942.

  WILLIAM “BILL” O’HARA—A stoic native of a coal-mining town in Pennsylvania, O’Hara was navigator of the B-17 PN9E that crashed on November 9, 1942, while searching for Homer McDowell’s lost C-53.

  FRANCIS “FRANK” POLLARD—A lieutenant commander, Pollard was the captain of the U.S. Coast Guard cutter Northland during the rescue of the Canadian crew and the efforts to rescu
e the PN9E crew.

  JOHN PRITCHARD JR.—South Dakota–born and California-raised, the eldest of five children, Pritchard became a Coast Guard flier after more than two years as an enlisted man in the navy. As a lieutenant assigned to the cutter Northland, Pritchard piloted the ship’s amphibious rescue and surveillance plane, the Grumman Duck. After leading the successful rescue of three Canadian fliers, Pritchard attempted to rescue crew members of the downed B-17 PN9E.

  LLOYD “WOODY” PURYEAR—A staff sergeant from Kentucky, Puryear was a volunteer searcher aboard the B-17 PN9E that crashed on November 9, 1942, while searching for Homer McDowell’s lost C-53.

  EDWARD “ICEBERG” SMITH—A rear admiral with a PhD in oceanography from Harvard, Smith led the Coast Guard’s Greenland Patrol during the war and played a role in planning rescue efforts for the PN9E crew.

  HARRY SPENCER—An effervescent Texan and a natural leader, Spencer was copilot of the B-17 PN9E that crashed on November 9, 1942, while searching for Homer McDowell’s lost C-53. Along with Armand Monteverde, Spencer was credited with keeping alive fellow crew members after the crash.

  PAUL SPINA—An easygoing private from upstate New York, Spina was the engineer on the B-17 PN9E that crashed on November 9, 1942, while searching for Homer McDowell’s lost C-53.

  WILLIAM SPRINGER—A lieutenant, he was copilot of the C-53 cargo plane whose crash in Greenland on November 5, 1942, set in motion the search-and-rescue efforts by the B-17 PN9E and the Grumman Duck.

  HAROLD STRONG—A captain who’d made a fortune in the stock market and worked as a trapper in Alaska, Strong led a search-and-rescue team in Greenland that played an important role in the effort to rescue the downed B-17 PN9E crew.

  DON TETLEY—A sergeant from Texas with a background as a cowboy, Tetley served on the motorsled rescue team with Max Demorest. He spent more than two months with survivors of the PN9E crash.

  ALEXANDER “AL” TUCCIARONE—A laborer and truck driver in the Bronx before the war, Tucciarone was a private who served as assistant engineer aboard the B-17 PN9E that crashed on November 9, 1942, while searching for Homer McDowell’s lost C-53.

  KENNETH “PAPPY” TURNER—A native of Salt Lake City, Turner was the pilot of a B-17 that braved months of terrible flying conditions to airdrop supplies to the survivors of the B-17 PN9E crash.

  JIMMIE WADE—A Canadian bush pilot, Wade volunteered for an unsuccessful rescue mission to the Motorsled Camp.

  ARTHUR WEAVER—Radioman of the Royal Canadian Air Force A-20 that crashed in Greenland on November 10, 1942.

  CLARENCE WEDEL—A mechanic from Kansas, Wedel was a private en route to England who hitched a ride aboard the B-17 PN9E days before it crashed in Greenland.

  ROBERT WIMSATT—A colonel, Wimsatt was commander of the U.S. Army’s Greenland bases and took part in overseeing the rescue efforts.

  MODERN

  ALBERTO BEHAR—A member of the Duck Hunt expedition of 2012, Behar holds a PhD in electrical engineering and a degree in robotics. He designed the down-hole camera that played a pivotal role in the expedition. Behar also oversees one of the experiments aboard the NASA Mars rover Curiosity.

  AARON BENNET—An independent television producer, Bennet served as Lou Sapienza’s de facto business partner, handling financial, media, and other duties while he pitched a show based on the exploits of Lou and his exploration company.

  JAMES “JIM” BLOW—A U.S. Coast Guard commander, Blow serves in the Office of Aviation Forces and was the service’s liaison and mission leader for the Duck Hunt. He led the Coast Guard team during the 2012 search-and-recovery mission.

  JOHN BRADLEY—A member of the Duck Hunt expedition of 2012 and a veteran ice rescue guide, Bradley served as a leader of the safety team. He oversees the mountaineering department of REI’s flagship store in Denver.

  NICHOLAS “NICK” BRATTON—A member of the Duck Hunt expedition of 2012 and a former mountaineering guide, Bratton served as a member of the safety team. Away from the ice, Bratton designs land conservation programs in Washington State. Bratton also serves as the board treasurer for the Fallen American Veterans Foundation.

  MICHELLE BRINSKO—A member of the Duck Hunt expedition of 2012, Brinsko served as the base camp manager and chief cook. If there had been a morale officer, she would have been it. Away from Greenland, she is a physical therapist.

  JOE DEER—A Coast Guard commander who served in the Office of Aviation Forces, Deer was a key member of the service’s team that launched the Duck Hunt.

  JETTA DISCO—A member of the Duck Hunt expedition of 2012, Disco is a petty officer second class in the Coast Guard. She serves in the service’s public affairs office in New York. Her images of the expedition constitute the official record.

  JAANA GUSTAFSSON—A member of the Duck Hunt expedition of 2012, Gustafsson was the team’s inexhaustible ground-penetrating radar expert. A Finn living in Sweden, Gustafsson has a PhD in geophysics and works as a land surveyor.

  KENNETH “DOC” Harman—A member of the Duck Hunt expedition of 2012, Harman is a captain in the Coast Guard and a flight surgeon. Harman has responded for the Coast Guard to trouble spots around the globe.

  JERRY HOWARTH—Nephew and primary next of kin of Loren “Lolly” Howarth.

  STEVE KATZ—A member of the Duck Hunt expedition of 2012, Katz served as second-in-command of North South Polar. A retired colonel in the Army Reserves, Katz works as an executive in a logistics and transportation company.

  TOM KING—A retired Coast Guard captain, King was active in the Coast Guard Aviation Association when he suggested that efforts be made to locate the lost Grumman Duck and recover the bodies of the men aboard the plane.

  NANCY PRITCHARD MORGAN KRAUSE—Sister and primary next of kin to John Pritchard Jr. She was an inspiration to and a stalwart supporter of the Duck Hunt.

  TERRI LISMAN—A member of the Duck Hunt expedition of 2012, Lisman is an image scientist for the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency. Brought on the mission by the Coast Guard, she operated the magnetometer used to confirm BW-1 as a key search location.

  JOHN LONG—Retired master chief petty officer in the U.S. Coast Guard and an indefatigable researcher into the crash of the Grumman Duck.

  FRANK MARLEY—A member of the Duck Hunt expedition of 2012, Marley served as leader of the safety team. A third-year medical student, Marley intends to practice expedition medicine. At the time of the Duck Hunt, he had just returned from Afghanistan, where he was a captain in the U.S. Army National Guard.

  JAMES MCDONOUGH—A lieutenant colonel with the U.S. Department of Defense Prisoner of War/Missing Personnel Office, or DPMO, who was a primary contact for Lou Sapienza as he planned the Duck Hunt.

  EDWARD “BUD” RICHARDSON—Stepson of Benjamin Bottoms and an important supporter of the effort to find the Duck and the men it carried.

  LOU SAPIENZA—The son of a U.S. Navy veteran from World War II, Lou spent years as a commercial photographer before volunteering for three missions to Greenland to find a lost P-38 fighter plane known as Glacier Girl. Eventually that led him to a years-long effort to find the lost Grumman Duck. He led the 2010 and 2012 recovery expeditions to Greenland.

  RYAN SAPIENZA—A member of the Duck Hunt expedition of 2012, Ryan Sapienza served as keeper of the expedition log and aide-de-camp. He is Lou’s son.

  ROBERT “WEEGEE” SMITH—A member of the Duck Hunt expedition of 2012, Smith oversaw logistics and operated the Hotsy water pressure unit used to explore anomalies beneath the glacier at Koge Bay. A veteran of Greenland expeditions in search of World War II planes, he builds and repairs rally race cars in Vermont.

  MARC STORCH—Cousin by marriage of Loren “Lolly” Howarth and keeper of Howarth’s Legion of Merit.

  DONALD TAUB—A retired Coast Guard captain who served in Greenland, Taub played a major role in researching the events from November 1942 to May 1943, and served as a historical adviser on this book.

  W. R. “BIL” THUMA—A member of the Duck Hu
nt expedition of 2012, Thuma served as an authority on geophysics. Thuma is a consultant who markets technology for natural resource exploration around the world.

  ROB TUCKER—A member of the Duck Hunt expedition of 2012, Tucker is a lieutenant commander in the Coast Guard, based in Washington. A pilot, Tucker served as second-in-command to Jim Blow on the Coast Guard expedition team.

  Acknowledgments

  IT’S A POWERFUL and unsettling experience to be drawn into the orbit of someone possessed by an impossible dream. At times I wondered if Lou Sapienza would awake and abandon his quixotic plan to find three airmen entombed in a glacier. Or maybe he’d suffer one too many sacrifices and surrender to self-preservation. But no matter how many setbacks Lou faced, nothing deterred him. The Duck Hunt expedition was the accomplishment of a rare and remarkable man. If I’m ever lost, I hope that Lou decides that I need to be found.

  I’m profoundly indebted to Commander Jim Blow of the U.S. Coast Guard. He made countless essential contributions to the Duck Hunt and to this book, and he welcomed me on the mission with respect and kindness. I admire his leadership and value his friendship. As I say elsewhere, he’s a gentleman.

  Deep thanks to all my expedition mates, several of whom offered valuable comments on the manuscript. I hope that the friendships we made will endure as long as the memories. In alphabetical order: Alberto Behar, John Bradley, Nick Bratton, Michelle Brinsko, Jetta Disco, Jaana Gustafsson, Ken Harman, Steve Katz, Terri Lisman, Frank Marley, Ryan Sapienza, Bil Thuma, and Rob Tucker. A special shout-out to my friend Robert “WeeGee” Smith, with whom I shared one of the most extraordinary moments of my life.

  Retired master chief petty officer John Long was a tireless researcher and an unflagging advocate for the families of John Pritchard, Ben Bottoms, and Loren Howarth. This book is marbled with his insights and contributions.