John Ball Phase Three Alert

For Chaplain (Major) Alvi’n C. Durham

United States Air Force-Civil Air Patrol, with admiration and respect

AUTHOR’S NOTE

This book was made possible by the generous and essential cooperation of the United States Air Force. My particular appreciation is tendered to the West Coast Office of Information (SAFOI) and to the other Air Force agencies that lent their help.

I would like to offer my very special thanks, and deepest appreciation, to the many friends I was fortunate enough to make at Thule Air Base. The American military personnel and the Danish civilians who were stationed there were unstinting in their guidance, their patient digging-out of research material, and their unfailing hospitality. There, 840 miles from the North Pole and at one of the most isolated and fearsome sites anywhere on earth, they took time from their essential duties to give of their best. The High Arctic is a harsh and unforgiving environment almost impossible to imagine without experiencing it. Despite the constant rigors to which they were subjected, they did not allow even the violence of Phase Three conditions in the middle of the Arctic night to deter them.

I have now shed my parka, my mukluks, my arctic boots, my thermal long johns, my felt innersoles, my arctic gloves with their mittens and liners, the several pairs of socks I wore each day, and the Phase Warning Card that I carried at all times. But I have not shed Thule, surely one of the most exotic places in the world. There I found a camaraderie and an awareness of a vital mission that have become a part of me.

It is a great privilege to share them with you.

For the benefit of those readers who may not be familiar with the technical aspects of flying, the nature of the High Arctic, or the operations of the United States Air Force, there is a glossary, beginning on page 293, which defines many of the specialized terms used in the text.


John Ball

Thule, Greenland, February 1975


Encino, California, May 1976

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