| Summary: | Carl Ben Eielson standing up in pilot seat leaning over to shake hands with his father Ole Eielson who is standing on the ground. Two other men standing nearby. Photographic postcards; 9 x 14 cm. Carl Benjamin Eielson was born at Hatton, N.D. in 1897 where he grew up. He enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1917 and received training in flying. After being mustered out in 1919 he returned to Hatton and was employed at a local mercantile store. While there he organized the Hatton Aero Club and was involved in stunt and passenger flying in North Dakota and Minnesota. After graduating from the University of North Dakota in 1921 he entered Georgetown University pursuing a law degree. In fall 1922 he went to Fairbanks, Alaska as principal of the high school. He continued his flying in Alaska by purchasing a Curtis Airplane. In 1924 he received a contract from the government to fly mail between Fairbanks and McGrath, Alaska. Several years later he would join with Hubert Wilkins and in April 1928 at Point Barrow, Alaska they began their successful, historic flight over the Arctic Ocean to Spitzbergen, Norway. After a homecoming celebration at Hatton on July 21, 1928 Eielson joined Wilkins on another historic flight over Antarctica. Ben Eielson returned to Alaska and in December 1929 he and his mechanic Earl Borland lost their lives attempting to rescue crew and cargo of a ship frozen in the ice off the coast of Siberia, Soviet Union. Their bodies were found in Siberia and Eielson's remains were transported to Hatton, N.D. and buried March 26, 1930. Benson, George A. "Wilkins pays great tribute to Eielson, one learns to know the real man in Arctic work, he says." Fargo Forum and Daily Tribune, July 21, 1928, p. 1.
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