Service history/pictures from Lloyd Awalt (44): 

Lloyd, I had you listed with the class of 46. I have now corrected that error.

This is a great story. Thank you so much for sharing.  Gary

Dear Gary,

More of the Dunseith History.  I believe a lot of people will remember the Awalt’s.  My Dad John was born on the place where Dick Johnson lives now.  My Grandpa sold the farm to Han’s Johnson and moved back to Missouri.  My Parent, John and Gertrude went to Missouri with them and that is where I and Eleanor were born.  We all moved back to North Dakota when the Banks went belly-up in 1929.  We lived on the Peterson Place across the road from Cliff Metcalf’s.  In the Spring of 1930 we moved into Dunseith as Dad went to work in the Gottbreht Mill.  We lived in the house that Bill Fassett’s later lived in.  Dad later bought the Dray Line from Clarence Berg.  The Dray Line hauled anything and everything.  We met the train every evening hauling anything that came in, delivered coal to homes, and supplies to the stores.  In 1941 Dad sold the Dray line to Leo Vandal.

In 1943 I enlisted in the Navy.  (I would have graduated with the class of 1944 with Urbain Cote and that bunch). My Dad had to sign for me to join.  My first training was at Ft. Snelling in Minneapolis, Mn. and then was sent to Farrugt, Idaho for 8 weeks training and next onto an air base in California, where I underwent a great deal of training to prepare for the war.  Most of the training was centered around aircraft support.  I was also sent to gunnery school, which was real important to me later on.  In the summer of 1944, along with thousand of other me I boarded an aircraft carrier, the USS Kalinin Bay, for the trip to Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. The trip took two weeks, and we were worried about Japanese’s submarines, but at the same time we were pretty comforted by the sheer size of the aircraft carrier.  From Pearl Harbor I was assigned to the U.S. Naval Air Facility on Johnston Island, located about 750 miles southwest of Hawaii.  The Island is only about a quarter mile wide and one mile long.  There was nothing on the Island except the airstrip and 1,500 military personnel.  Our primary mission was to provide air coverage for our ships going to and from Pearl Harbor.  The Naval Air Facility at Johnston Island flew the Dauntless Dive Bomber.  This workhorse airplane had fought most of the air and naval battles in the Pacific during the early years of the war.  The Dauntless had a range of about 400 miles, so we would  provide air coverage to the end of our range, and then turn the air coverage over to someone else.  The air facility also flew reconnaissance patrols.  I was a plane captain, responsible for making sure my airplane was flight ready, that meant I worked on the planes and on the airfield, and took my turn at guard duty.  My gunnery training came in handy, too, as I sometimes served as the gunner in the Dauntless Dive Bomber, manning the twin ..30-caliber machine guns in the rear of the two-seat dive bomber.  The pilots had a rule:  Whoever worked on the plane had to fly with the pilot to make sure the plane was safe.  One time after replacing a wing, the pilot took me up to about 9,000 feet and then told me he wanted to see, “How well the plane would hold up,” putting the dive bomber into a steep dive all the way back down!  The ocean sure came up fast.  Much of the work we did was tedious.  The Pacific Islands were hot, (120 degrees in the shade if you could find any.) There were no trees.  Off duty we played a lot of baseball and softball, went fishing and swimming.  We were the stop off for planes returning to Pearl Harbor with wounded or prisoners of war.  Planes would refuel or change pilots before continuing on to Pearl Harbor.  I saw a lot of wounded men who had seen the worst of the fighting.  When the war ended we celebrated, with 3.2 beer, and a big sigh of relief.  From there I was sent to the mainland and Washington State where I refurbished airplanes.  In March of 1946 I was mustered out of the service.

I don’t have any pictures of the Blizzard of 1948-49 when the Army came in to dig Dunseith out.  They stayed about 6 weeks.  There were 4 ways to get out of town and the farthest you could get was 4 miles North of Town.

Winifred Pritchard stayed with my Parents when she was going to High School.  We became very close to Winifred and her family.  I got to know her Dad “Will” because Winifred would take me home with her on week-ends.

My sister Eleanor went to work in Shelvers Drug store when she was in High School, she said it was a wonderful place to work.

My Dad worked for PV Elevator for a few years and then went into carpenter work, something he’d always wanted to do.  A lot of his work is still there.  He built the PostOffice, the Bank, many barn up in the hills, the Boarder Station at the Peace Garden, the Peace Chapel, and the float that is in many Dunseith Parades.  John Awalt loved the Stone Church in Dunseith and along with Fred Michaelson did many hours of free carpentry work on the church.

Lloyd Awalt Class of !944

Reply from Marylyn Diebold (Willow City): 

Thank you so much for the information. I’ve heard a lot of positive things concerning your blog. Keep up the good work!

Incidentally I did find out that the sheds on our property that were purchased from San Haven were more than likely goat sheds. I spoke to a gentleman whose last name, I believe, was Awalt, or something close to that. He worked for many years at San Haven and it was so interesting to me. Never realized before that the complex was like a little city. My down-syndrome cousin who is now 49, was moved to San Haven from Grafton. I forget the year that took place.

Thanks again for sending me the information!

Marylyn Diebold

Folks, Marylyn is the lady that is using the material from old buildings, for making crafts, that were moved to her place from San Haven. Do any of you remember anything about these goat sheds that were up at San Haven?

Marylyn, I believe the guy you talked to was Lloyd Awalt. He lives in Bottineau on the corner of Main street an #5. He would know a lot of the history of San Haven.

From Dave Slyter (70): 

Gary, Paul, and Warren:

Just to send a big thank you for the memories in the two video’s this morning.  Pauls was hilarious and Warrens was just great.  Funny how you can forget an actor and as soon as you see their faces again you remember watching them way back when.   Just means we are getting just a little older.

Thanks fella’s for sharing the video’s.

Dave Slyter (70)

Reply from Angela Berube Malget (65): 

Hi Gary and Everyone,

I am responding to Neola’s question in the #284 posting about the
wedding photo of Sharon Berube and Dave Kelly.  Sharon is the daughter
of Edward and Evelyn Berube of Belcourt.  She would be a first cousin to
Jim, Tom, Cecile and Bill Berube and also to me and my family.  Dave
Kelly lived in Minneapolis and would not be related to Randy Kelly’s
family.  Sure is interesting to see all these pictures.

Angela Berube Malget (65)

Reply from Neola Kofoid Garbe:

Hi Gary,

When people visit Mrs. Pritchard at St. Andrew’s in Bottineau, they might like to also visit my aunt, Alvina Brudwick Christianson.  She lives in Room 107; phone number 701-228-9308.

Neola

Folks, Alvina is Lois Christianson Roland’s mother.  They lived in the Willow Lake community west of the Halvorson’s, in Bottineau county. Lois graduated in 1965 from Bottineau HS. She is married to Dickie Roland, also from the BHS class of 65.

Winifred Pritchard Eurich (37) is also a resident at St. Andrew’s. I was reading in the Dunseith news where Sylvia Bergan recently celebrated her 96th birthday. She too is a resident at St. Andrew’s.  She is a great aunt to all the Bergan siblings from Dunseith. She was a close family friend of ours in my growing up days. When I talked to her a while back, she remembered me well and was asking about my brothers.  When Sylvia celebrated her 90th, she did not look a day over 60. Gary