{"id":29784,"date":"2017-09-30T16:54:52","date_gmt":"2017-09-30T16:54:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/uncategorized\/2017\/09\/30\/navy-vet-who-flew-recon-day-of-alaska-tsunami-returns-to-kodiak\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T02:18:12","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T02:18:12","slug":"navy-vet-who-flew-recon-day-of-alaska-tsunami-returns-to-kodiak","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/veterans\/2017\/09\/30\/navy-vet-who-flew-recon-day-of-alaska-tsunami-returns-to-kodiak\/","title":{"rendered":"Navy vet who flew recon day of Alaska tsunami returns to Kodiak"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">KODIAK, Alaska \u2014 For Donald Raunig, each visit to Kodiak takes him back in time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Unlike most cruise ship visitors, Raunig is already very familiar with Kodiak.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In the early 1960s, Raunig was stationed at the U.S. Naval Operating Base on what is currently U.S. Coast Guard Base Kodiak.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In September, Raunig and his wife, Cathy, made their second cruise ship visit to Kodiak in three years. The pair wanted to come last year, but their stop was canceled due to weather.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The 2015 visit was Raunig\u2019s first since 1971, when the Navy veteran made a stop in Kodiak while stationed in Adak.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cA lot of memories, a lot of memories. Some sad. You know, when you\u2019re this old you kind of reflect back and all the sudden it starts coming back into focus,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">While evenings at Beachcombers highlight those memories, it also brings back memories of tragedy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In January 1963, Raunig was a member of a P2 Neptune flight crew, the first of four to land at the naval station that day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe were about 20 minutes apart so we wouldn\u2019t bog down the runway, so the last aircraft was about an hour behind us,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">By the time the final aircraft was scheduled to land, Raunig had unloaded his gear and was emerging from the shower. He received news from his roommate that the final aircraft, filled with Raunig\u2019s friends, had not landed. After a failed landing attempt, the pilot had attempted to circle around for another try. However, the plane stalled out and crashed into Old Womens Mountain, killing seven of the 12 men aboard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Early news reports on the crash failed to mention the squadron of those involved, so family of men on 12 aircraft stationed across Alaska in Adak, Elmendorf and Kodiak did not know if their loved one was safe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"778\" src=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/GettyImages-3294619.jpg.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-60628\" srcset=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/GettyImages-3294619.jpg.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/GettyImages-3294619.jpg.jpg?resize=300,228 300w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/GettyImages-3294619.jpg.jpg?resize=768,584 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">(Original April 4, 1964, caption):  The small fishing village on Kodiak Island, in Alaska, littered with debris from houses and boats after an earthquake and tidal wave struck the island.  (Photo by Central Press\/Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cSomeone called Seattle, and within half an hour it was on Seattle news. No one knew who crashed,\u201d Raunig said. \u201cWhoever he was really made it bad, because there were people all around the country who didn\u2019t know if their son, or who, died.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Just over two years later, on Good Friday 1964, Raunig was stationed in the Lower 48.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cI was a plane commander on a P2 Neptune naval plane. I was on ready alert in Oak Harbor, Washington,\u201d he said. \u201cI got a call that I was supposed to report down to operations. He said, \u2018Something big happened up in Alaska and I want you to fly up there and find out what\u2019s going on without landing.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Raunig and his crew left later that evening with a mission to report back on the conditions in areas affected by the magnitude <a href=\"https:\/\/earthquake.usgs.gov\/earthquakes\/events\/alaska1964\/\">9.2 earthquake and resultant tsunami<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe flew up and tried to communicate with all the cities on way up to about Yakutat,\u201d Raunig said. In particular, Raunig\u2019s superiors were interested in the impact to the Naval Operating Station at Kodiak.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe were all concerned because we had a squadron down here,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">From airspace over Juneau, he was able to get into contact with the base.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe did that by HF radio because we were too far for UHF and VHF just didn\u2019t work out that well,\u201d he said. \u201cWe found that several Navy airplanes were at the end of the runway up at the high end by Barometer, and that there was about 2 feet of water in the hangar area.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The airplanes survived the wave, as did service members. Raunig\u2019s crew radioed that information back to Washington.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In total, 19 people died on Kodiak Island that day, according to information from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Raunig flew home after relaying the news in heavy icing conditions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"512\" height=\"411\" src=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AP_397796304659.jpg.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-60632\" srcset=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AP_397796304659.jpg.jpg 512w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AP_397796304659.jpg.jpg?resize=300,241 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 512px) 100vw, 512px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Where cars weren&#8217;t buried, they were toss and damaged by huge slabs of ice pushed ashore by the tsunami following the major earthquake at Valdez, Alaska, which struck with deadly force, March 29, 1964. (AP Photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cMy aircraft was very loaded with ice because we had no icing of our wings between the engine and the fuselage and we were flying between 7,000 and 10,000 feet,\u201d he said. \u201cI had to have extra power, which would require me then to not get back to Oak Harbor, so I was looking at maybe the Canadian places or Port Hardy or something to land to refuel.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Fortunately, Raunig spotted a hole in the clouds and descended to approximately 100 feet above the water to de-ice, allowing him to shift to cruising power and safely make it home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Raunig retired from the Navy in 1979 and then worked at Boeing for 24 years. He can now relax and enjoy far less dangerous pursuits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cNow my big hobby is playing digital accordion, which I think is a lot of fun,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><br\/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>For Donald Raunig, each visit to Kodiak, Alaska, takes him back in time.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":60624,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":19,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[101,12,26,19,65],"tags":[],"coauthors":[5035],"class_list":["post-29784","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-news-roundup","category-news","category-newsletters","category-veterans","category-your-navy"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"5NKL374TUVHMZHN4YVWQVGZH4Q","arc_canonical_url":"\/veterans\/2017\/09\/30\/navy-vet-who-flew-recon-day-of-alaska-tsunami-returns-to-kodiak\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented 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