Weird Finding: Adak, AK

[Penkovski]

I was on Adak in 1962 - 1963. Walked off the plane and I thought we had landed on the moon. It was quite primitive back then. People who were there in later years asked me if the underground hospital actually existed or was it just a hoax. The hospital existed. I was in it many times. It was so dark in there that flashlights just seemed to end into the darkness somewhere. Those were the days before pot. People began smoking that killer plant in the hospital and some fool officer decided to blow it up. Can you imagine. This complete moron destroyed a large part of history because of a plant. Had it been up to me, he would have left the Navy with a DD and my boot up his..... after he dug the hospital back out. Those Navy officers were such losers. One told me that I WOULD listen to him as the Marines were part of the Department of the Navy. I said, "Yes sir, Marines are the men's department". Twenty minutes later we interrupted a basketball game in the gym, put the gloves on and in ten seconds this Lt. was flat on his back. Yeah, I liked Adak. An old man on the island ran a smoking rig for salmon. We'd take him ten fish and he'd hand us back five already smoked. We snagged herring and candlestick fish on Candlestick Bridge. We'd Fish for salmon in Finger Bay. The salmon would run so think that the ones nearest the shore would be pushed out of the water and onto the beach. We'd run up and down the beach putting them back into the water to save them from the birds. My neighbor from those years told me recently that I shouldn't bother to go back as it is nothing like it was when we were there. How could that be bad? Any change would be an improvement from the Adak of the '60's.

[Notworking]

Adak was highly populated with US troops, staging there for the invasion of Attu and Kiska islands which were both occupied in WW2. If you fly the great circle route from Seattle to Tokyo you overfly Adak, midway in the trip. It is 1400 air miles from Anchorage in the middle of the North Pacific. You have the Bering Sea, frigid Artic waters to the North and the warm waters of the Japanese current to the South. This makes for constant fog, overcast and precipitation. A dull placed racked by "Williwaws" on a weekly cycle. There are two active volcanoes within a 20 mile radius and Lake Andrew is the blown out crater of a dormant volcano.

Adak is in the middle of fertile king crab and halibut fishing grounds. If you are a lumberjack you may want to steer clear of Adak. If you're fascinated by large rats, bald eagles, orcas, seals, sea otters, silver foxes, and caribou it may be the place for you.

[AnnieA]

Anybody find any pictures of this place ?

[stiffnecked]

Originally Posted by AnnieA

Anybody find any pictures of this place ?

Did you try Google?

Alaska: Adak