Engineer Memoirs _____________________________________________________________________
Alaska Earthquake
Q:
Let's talk for a few minutes about the Alaska earthquake, 27 March 1964, a huge earthquake
in southcentral Alaska. The Corps of Engineers became involved. How did you become
involved in events there?
A:
Not initially; it was about six weeks later. Initially, after the earthquake, the Corps responded
by sending a bunch of folks up for damage assessment, much like we did recently in Loma
Prieta, the San Francisco earthquake. After the damage assessment phase was over, people
were put out to do various things and take various parts of the renovation. It was decided, I
suppose here in USACE [U.S. Army Corps of Engineers] headquarters, on the request of the
North Pacific Division Engineer, that we ought to send some people up there to augment the
force. The assessors had probably gone home, at least for the most part. So, five captains
were alerted. I was told, I guess maybe Wednesday, Thursday of one week, that "I think
we're going to send you to Alaska for a couple of months to participate in the work there as a
follow-up to the earthquake."
So, five of us were sent from various parts of the Corps. I met Captain Jack Sullivan, who
came out of Tulsa District, in the Seattle Airport as we boarded the same plane to fly to
Anchorage. Later Captains Al Hight, Joe Yore, and Jim Scott, all assigned somewhere in the
Corps, came up. Colonel Trev Sawyer was the district engineer. What followed over the next
two, two and a half months was really one of the most interesting experiences I've had in the
Corps.
Q:
What was your assignment there?
A:
Colonel Trev Sawyer was a great gent, one of the great leaders. He was helpful as a mentor to
me, even from a distance, because this was my most direct interaction with him. He started
our experience right. Jack Sullivan and I arrived in Anchorage, I think it was a Friday
evening. Colonel Sawyer made a car available to us and put us up in the Elmendorf Air Force
Base BOQ there. Also, there was a district person to take us out to see the damage in the
Turnagain housing area, which was one of the well-pictured things. We'd all seen pictures of
the houses that disappeared down the slope, with the great chunks of earth rising and falling.
So, we toured around; we had a real feel for the town of Anchorage and the damage that
occurred. We saw the buildings where the slabs fell to the ground and saw the holes where
some of them had already been demolished even before we arrived.
Then we were assigned out to various places, and I went to Kodiak Island. The others stayed
on the mainland, so I was out the farthest distance. There followed an experience for me that
almost could be out of a Bret Harte story.
Now, to set the stage, what happened in Kodiak was that the island dipped about six or seven
feet on an angle. On the side of the island where the town of Kodiak is located, a town of
about 3,000 population, it dropped about six or seven feet. Then the tsunami, the tidal wave,
came roaring in, breached a breakwater, and roared into the middle of town, going six or
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