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Alaska Life

How a two-minute Alaska hunting stop in 1965 turned into a two-week slog for survival

By David Reamer | Histories of Alaska
Published: 17 hours ago



Just two minutes, in and out. That’s all it was supposed to be. On Sept. 14, 1965, amid a heretofore peaceful hunting excursion, Texas businessman Thomas Brawner was insistent upon another trophy. Eager to please a wealthy customer, his guide and pilot, Anchorage-based Ralph Marshall, complied and landed on a small lake in the rugged Bering Glacier country east of Cordova. Helen Burnett, another avid hunter, was their party’s third and final member. She also owned The Club, an Anchorage bar.

The terrain was visibly lousy with mountain goats, which could be seen scattering as they buzzed the mountain peaks. The plan: Brawner would quickly kill one of these goats and have one more prize and one more grand Alaska story for the folks back home. Instead of a two-minute hunt, what followed was a two-week quest for survival.


Marshall took them down onto Hanna Lake, in a wider area popular with guides then for the isolation and prolific game. They were closer to Yakataga than any other place the reader is likely to recognize, though separated by 25 miles in a line of rough ground. As Marshall landed, a wing strut failed. The pilot told the Anchorage Daily Times, “The float fitting to the fuselage came loose after we landed to pick up a quick goat. And that fuselage was laying right on top of the floats. It was impossible to fly the plane out in that state.” In other words, they could leave but only on foot, and were a long, arduous trek from anywhere else.

At least no one was injured when the strut collapsed, and they did not dawdle at the lake. Back at her bar, Burnett had talked up Hanna Lake as a possible destination, but they did not have a precise itinerary, and no one knew where they were. In even the best possible case, it would be a while before rescuers could reach them, and there wasn’t enough brush around them for a signal fire, or more immediately, enough to keep them warm. So, they tied up the plane, left a note, and abandoned the lake for better environs.

Their gear and provisions were scant, featuring three sleeping bags, some plastic tarp, salt and guns. Brawner, in particular, was underdressed for the occasion, in light clothing not suited for overnight glacier country adventures. But there were mountain goats, so many goats. They quickly tired of all the goats.

They settled upon a little valley as their new home, about 3 miles from the crash site, an island of land surrounded by three peaks and the Bering Glacier. Here, they thought, they would at least find sufficient tinder. Yet, there were no trees and only a little brush, which was mostly too green for fires. Given a choice to stay in one spot or move around, they made camp, such as it was, a makeshift settlement of tarp, sleeping bags and tourist.


They shared in the hunting and cooking duties, though there was only enough suitable brush and dry grass to build fires every other day. “The area was so green, we had a heck of a time finding enough to cook with,” said Marshall. When they cooked, they cooked as much meat as they could, though it remained “very, very rare.” And when they cooked, they cooked goat. A sign of their desperation, Marshall declared, “I didn’t know goat could taste so good with nothing but salt washed down with glacier water.”

Search efforts began quickly after the plane did not return, when the tourist didn’t make it back to his wife, and the businesswoman didn’t show up at her bar. People noticed their absences right away. Brawner’s wife, Sybil, and daughter waited in Anchorage. It was their second trip to Alaska. Sybil last spoke to her husband on Sept. 13, while he was in Cordova. He asked for one more day over the phone, one more shot at a bear.


The Civil Air Patrol began their labors immediately, soon joined by the Coast Guard, Air Force and volunteer planes and boats. Fishermen searched the shores and mountainsides as they passed through the area. More than 100 people were interviewed for clues as to their location. Burnett’s ex, Wally Burnett, paid for two airplanes to join the search. Strive to be the type of person who inspires former lovers to fight so hard for your survival.

The search was desperate, expansive, expensive, and understandably so. Lives hung in the balance as eagle-eyed crews scanned the terrain from planes and helicopters. An ill-timed blink, and the missing people could be overlooked. Incessant rain and fog, unfortunately, hindered their efforts, occasionally grounding search planes. If the poor weather had continued for much longer — this was Alaska after all — the three wayward hunters might have never been found alive.

At risk were two real Alaskans and a well-heeled Texan. The 62-year-old Brawner owned a paper company in Houston. Rich Texans have long been some of Alaska’s most protected and preeminent personages. For long years before and after 1965, good Alaskans aimed to assist Texans in leaving the territory as soon as possible. A bumper sticker popular in 1970s Alaska about “Happiness is a Texan headed south with an Okie under each arm” did not refer to Brawner, but the sentiment was a preexisting concept.



The same wet, foggy and chilled weather that hindered the search made life miserable for the stranded hunters. “It was cold and rainy,” said Marshall, “and always a wind. I didn’t think it would ever stop blowing.” At night, they huddled together as one unhappy mass, hoping to gain critical extra increments of warmth from their proximity. “I’ve never been so wet and so miserable for so long in my life,” said Burnett.

After 11 days, hopes were beginning to falter. Capt. Victor Rhine, commander of the Civil Air Patrol in Cordova, was open regarding his increasing doubts. “I don’t see how he can be anywhere around (Cordova),” said Rhine. We’ve searched all the country at least three times and then double checked it. We’re going to try the glaciers next and then I’m fresh out of ideas where to look.”

On Sept. 28, it had been 14 days since the airplane failure at Hanna Lake. Marshall and Burnett, as longer-term Alaskans with significant wilderness experience, knew what it meant to go that long without rescue. The options, they dwindled. Whether they made this dire reality clear to Brawner or not is unknown. No matter what, their glacier island camp was untenable. And thus, the hunting trio decided to press on toward Yakataga.

Regarding a forced march to Yakataga, Marshall later said, “We would have had a terrible time getting out — it’s real rough country. It would probably have taken four or five days, and I might have made it by myself.” Left barely unsaid, it was unclear whether Brawner or the 47-year-old Burnett could make the journey.

Unbeknownst to them, the search was narrowing in on their position. Earlier that day, Marshall’s plane was discovered, including the note inside. And shortly thereafter, an Air Force C-130 crew finally spotted the trio, attracted by the thin smoke rising from a small fire fed by dry grass. They had only just begun an undesired hike to Yakataga. The lost but now found individuals, worn by their experiences over the past two weeks, watched but did not wave as the plane circled repeatedly to acknowledge them. After it dropped some emergency supplies, including a radio, more gracious cheer finally broke through. Now it was real — they were going to make it.

The site was too hilly and rocky for a plane to land, so the actual rescue occurred early the next day, Sept. 29. A helicopter dispatched from Eielson Air Force Base made the recovery and then deposited them at Yakataga. From there, Marshall and Burnett were taken to Cordova. Brawner, suffering from more severe exhaustion, was flown directly to Anchorage for medical treatment.

When Brawner’s flight landed, it was met by a Fire Department vehicle carrying his wife. As soon as he was in sight, she let out a stifled sob and rushed him, seizing him into a tight embrace. The sedated Texan smiled and weakly extended an arm from beneath a blanket to hug her back. The blanket was nice as well. He told the Daily Times, “My blood just turned to ice — I’m warm now for the first time in two weeks.”


The front page of the Anchorage Daily Times on Sept. 29, 1965, features a story about the rescue of the Marshall hunting party.
Once retrieved, a sense of humor returned to each survivor. Burnett joked that her clothes were now loose. Marshall admitted, “We thought we’d stop and get a two-minute goat, and it ended up being two weeks.” After two weeks of the limited goat diet, the pilot declared he was a “little tired” of the monotony and hungered for more varied, spiced fare. But he could already smile about the adventure, as when he added, “I hope the fish and game don’t book us for shooting so many of them.” The guys naturally possessed significantly more facial hair than they had two weeks prior. With his wife, Brawner quipped, “She doesn’t want to kiss me because of my beard.”

Brawner was also ready to move on, eager to return. When his family finally returned to Houston on Oct. 9, he was already promising to return the following year. His wife was somewhat less enthused. While he struggled to survive, she sat in Anchorage, desolate from the absence of knowledge. “I’ve never had this kind of experience before,” she said, “and I don’t ever want to go through it again.”

Marshall was likewise quick to adjust, more from commercial necessity than anything else. For the experienced pilot, this was the third time forced down. As he noted, “In this business, it’s bound to catch up with you sooner or later.” The day after his rescue, he ordered a classified ad in the Daily News, seeking a new plane. “As soon as I can get a plane, I’ll fly again,” he said.

All survival tales double as life lessons. The ones here are obvious. Learn from your elders, whether they got it right or wrong, especially if they go on trips into the wildness without enough supplies or telling people where they were going. At the least, realize that the simplest measure of our humanity — our base existence — is more fragile and fleeting than any of us would hope. Consider how to be more cautious of that value, and be more wary of those who demean or lessen the quality of life for others.

Some times it is those short trips that get you.

As many do not prepare.

As they well only begone for a short time.

Great story.

I know some guys that would have paid airplanes NOT to search for their missing ex-wives.

quote:

Originally posted by Michael Robinson:
Great story.

I know some guys that would have paid airplanes NOT to search for their missing ex-wives.

X2

Or a soon to be ex son-in-law....