3/26/2012:
Grave Claims Hatton’s Hero: was the somber headline of the Fargo Forum on this date in 1930. Indeed, every North Dakotan knew who the hero from Hatton was. Carl Ben Eielson, pioneer pilot in the Alaskan skies was coming home. The rich earth of the Red River Valley, the land of his birth, would embrace his coffin.
Ben Eielson’s daring and adventurous spirit guided his early flying days when he introduced barnstorming and airplane rides to North Dakota. As a young boy, Ben had marveled at a Grand Forks Chautauqua display of a replica of the Wright Brothers’ first airplane. His fascination led to a life with airplanes.
His new home in Fairbanks Alaska in 1922 enabled him to be one of the first to earn fame for flying in the skies of the northern territory for business and humanitarian purposes. Worldwide acclaim came when he and explorer Herbert Wilkins traversed the North Pole from Alaska to Spitsbergen, Norway in 1928. A recipient of the Navy Flying Cross for that exploit, the two flew over the South Pole the same year.
Then, in fall of 1929, with his own company of fliers, 32-year-old Eielson and 29-year-old navigator Earl Borland went down while on a rescue mission for the crew and cargo of the schooner Nanook, when the ship became ice-locked off the coast of Siberia. The world paid attention when the bodies were found after a three month search.
Ceremonies were held throughout Alaska for Ben Eielson. In Seattle, where his body was shipped, another memorial service was held. Along the route of the railroad train that took Ben back to the Midwest, people paused when the cars passed. In cities across North Dakota, the funeral train was met by men, women and children of every age – waiting, watching, for the fallen hero’s arrival.
A grand and somber memorial service convened in Fargo before the funeral procession turned north to the Hatton Cemetery. There, it is said that the largest funeral held in the state’s history capped Ben Eielson’s time on Earth. Among many stirring eulogies was this from Governor George Shafer: “His fame will endure the ages. Every generation in the history of our country has produced its heroes. To this small group of American heroes belongs Carl Ben Eielson.”
Dakota Datebook written by Steve Stark
Page, Dorothy, Drache, Hiram 1992, Interstate Publishers, Inc. Polar Pilot: the Carl Ben Eielson Story
Herron, Edward A. 1967 Archway Wings Over Alaska The Story of Carl Ben Eielson