Friendship Flight

November 1st | 2013 years later REFLECTIONS OF FRIENDSHIP FLIGHT From Lieutenant Governor Mead Treadwell, Chair, Alaska Historical Commission Mead Treadwell Participant As Chairman of the Alaska Historical common, sustainable future. These flights Commission focused on Alaska’s unique created a neighborhood in the North. anniversaries, I saw an opportunity this year, the 25th anniversary of Third, and perhaps most important, is the Friendship Flight between Nome what the era after the Friendship Flights and Provideniya Russia, to celebrate has allowed on a people-to-people basis the historic occasion. As part of that across our border in the last quarter celebration, we asked people who were century. Alaskan and Siberian Yupik on the flight to reflect and share. This families were reunited. New families, with article and the others in this publication, Russian and American parents, have been captures those memories. formed and children have been raised. Many Russian and American students There are three important reasons to have studied at each other’s Universities. celebrate the opening of our border Russian ships have helped deliver fuel between Alaska and Russia, which began to keep Nome residents from freezing with the exchange of Friendship Flights in a dark winter of 2012. Alaska Eskimo between Nome and Provideniya, and the whaling captains now work together at Russian return visits between Magadan the International Whaling Commission to and Anchorage in 1988 and 1989. maintain indigenous whaling with their Chukotka counterparts. Our National Park Lieutenant Governor Mead Treadwell visits with members of the press while attending First, the flights were a significant authorities work together in the Beringia the 2nd International Arctic Forum, The Arctic: Territory of Dialogue in Archangelsk, Russia milestone in the end of the Cold War. Region, and the Beringia program helps September, 2011 Our so-called “ice curtain” came down keep the door open. Alaska contractors well over a year before the breach in and oilfield workers play a major role the Berlin Wall, the symbol of the “iron in Sakhalin Island development. Church the magic of song to charm Gorbachev’s born. Bruce Kennedy and Jim Johnson of curtain” which divided Eastern Europe. groups and Rotary Clubs regularly do spokesman Gennady Gerisimov to come Alaska Airlines joined the cause, seeing Alaskans helped make this happen. We good works across the border. Russians to Alaska to see the opportunities of potential new routes, and Alascom’s can be proud of hastening the end of a join athletic events here, and Alaskans cooperation. Nome resident Jim Stimpfle leadership joined seeing potential new nuclear standoff that, at best, threatened compete there. Tourists have come waged an endless campaign of faxes telecom connections. Ron Sheardown misery and death to millions of people, or to engage with the people, cultural to leaders on both sides of the Bering made us aware of mining prospects that at worst, could have ended human history and archaeological wonders and flora Strait, and Ken Wells, a Wall Street could grow from accessibility. Then Sen. altogether. and fauna of both sides of an ancient Journal writer and Jeff Berliner, then Frank Murkowski, and his assistant Jessica land bridge responsible for the original writing for UPI, made the prospect of Gavora, lobbied the White House. And Second, the opening of cordial relations settlement of the Americas. This good list an open border a front-page story. A then-Governor Steve Cowper seized the in the Arctic region begat significant could go on and on. group of us, including myself, Stimpfle, idea, and when our efforts became an circumpolar cooperation. That is none too Leo Rasmussen, former Governor Wally official objective of the State of Alaska, soon, because the Arctic which became By celebrating these friendship flights Hickel, Nome Chamber President Neil the mission was accomplished. accessible on a political basis in the late we celebrate the people who made it Colby, State Chamber President Dave 1980’s became much more accessible on happen. Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Heatwole, University of Alaska’s Vic The two flights themselves produced a physical basis with the ice retreat of the Gorbachev toasted Lynne Cox, whose Fischer, ISER economist Gunnar Knapp, magnificent memories, some chronicled last decade. The Northern Forum, the August 1987 swim between the and State Division of International Trade here. I have many from that day, but Arctic Environmental Protection Strategy, Diomede Islands was a precursor to leaders Ginna Brelsford, Dan Dixon and never in my life to that point would I and the Arctic Council allow Arctic these flights, at a White House dinner. Bob Poe went to work. Native leader, have thought I would experience what residents to work together to protect Alaska Performing Artists for Peace and State Senator Willie Hensley helped happened later. In years that followed, I’d our common environment and to forge a founder Dixie Belcher, of Juneau, used push. The Siberian Gateway Project was continues on page 2 Jim Stimpfle Participant Before I came to Nome I met my wife sure enough was able to fill them with my Bernadette Alvanna who’s from King car exhaust and wrote a message on them Island in Fairbanks and followed her to and let them just kind of bounce across the Nome. I used to listen to some of the Bering Sea. Well, I don’t think any of those elders in the King Island talk about the balloons made it. early days of crossing the Bering Strait. It was 1986, and I wasn’t selling any houses So later I thought to myself, “Maybe I so I said, “Gee, you know that sounds like should go to the weather service and fun.” So, I started writing letters to our get a helium balloon? And my wife was a Congressman and people like that and I bilingual teacher at the school and she was started talking to other people in Nome. doing a class with the kids and we thought, “Well, let’s send some messages of I remember one late August day that friendship from the kids in the elementary In November we filled the balloon with opened the bag of goodies and saw year, I went up to the city dump to dump school. Let’s put some messages written helium and we launched it. We didn’t the Russian handwriting and said, the garbage and I noticed that the wind in English, Inupiaq, and Siberian Yupik.” want it to go too high so we tied some “This is from Russia! This is was blowing toward Russia. We had a And we had a woman named Astrid Smart, rocks on it so it’d float about 200 feet from Russia!” constant breeze, and between the dump, who was a German. She knew a little above the water. We launched it off and the breeze, and the smoke, I thought bit of Russian, so she translated some it went across and then it came back So, I followed him down the coastline maybe I could launch a balloon with my of the letters to Russian. And we even down again. It cooled off and it started with my binoculars, down to his camp. name on it, instead of throwing a bottle in had a woman write in Cyrillic. We made bouncing across and I was watching And he gets out of his boat and I come the water with a message. So I got some a little bag of goodies with sugar, tea, with my binoculars as the balloon was running up to him and Tim’s really balloons and I went down to the jetty and sewing needles, thread, chewing tobacco, going over. And I saw this boat come excited and says, “Jim, this came from I started to blow them up but they were because when I’d listened to the elders rushing up to it. I said, “Jeez, whose boat Russia! I said, no, Tim. I’m trying to big balloons, almost as big as this table, going over in the boats, I heard them talk is that? And this boat came up to it and send it over.” and I couldn’t blow them up. It was cold about trading. I thought it would be a nice grabbed the balloon and stabbed it with because it was a fall day and my car was little bag of trading items going across the a knife, throwing it on board. It was Tim Bering Strait. running. I looked at my exhaust pipe, and Gologergan who got real excited. He continues on page 4 Jim Johnson Governor Frank Murkowski Participant Governor Steve Cowper Participant Participant I was in the U.S. Senate at the time, on 737-200 jet. Because there was a lot of Before the Friendship Flight initiative, was the clear leader of the St Lawrence the Senate Foreign Relations Committee interest generated, Alaska Airlines put the Soviet Union was a baleful presence group and, I would argue, of the entire and chairman of the Subcommittee a backup airplane in Nome. We were across the Bering Strait. As far as we could US contingent as well. on Pacific and East Asian Affairs. As a colorful group – Native participants tell, they didn’t like us and we certainly a consequence, I was pretty active in dressed in Hawaiian shirts. Many had didn’t like them. Alaskans and Russians walked together foreign affairs, which was both an interest relatives or distant relatives on the to the various planned events and and part of my responsibility, particularly Russia/Soviet side. We were a boisterous But Mikhail Gorbachev and Ronald mingled happily. Some Alaskans were as they applied to Alaska.

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