Page 3 - Willis Walunga News Today

Bruce Boolowon, then a lean 20-year-old, and a group of friends were hunting for murre eggs in a walrus skin boat on a remote Alaska island in the Bering Strait when they saw a crippled airplane flying low.

Sixteen Alaska Native men are honored for rescuing the crew of a U.S. Navy plane shot down over the Bering Strait by Soviet fighter jets nearly 70 years ago.

Sixteen Alaska Native men are honored for rescuing the crew of a U.S. Navy plane shot down over the Bering Strait by Soviet fighter jets nearly 70 years ago.

The Alaska National Guard held a ceremony in Gambell honoring 16 Alaska Scouts who saved a Navy aircrew after a Soviet attack

In June 1955, Alaska National Guard Pvt. Bruce Boolowon had to stop egg hunting on St. Lawrence Island in the Bering Sea. He heard the unhealthy whine of a distressed plane engine pass overhead. A few minutes later, he saw a big plume of smoke rising from the other side of the hill.