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Hank Seidelhuber - Personal Communication

Conversation, 8 November 2005
by Lowell Skoog

I had a brief conversation with Hank at the November 8, 2005 luncheon of the Seattle chapter of 10th Mountain Division Association. I showed slides and old ski movies at this gathering in Ballard, Washington.

I asked Hank if he recalled a rescue mission with Ome Daiber during World War II to a Navy bomber that went down in the Olympic Mountains. (Matie Daiber told me about this.) Hank said the bomber went down between Mt Ellinor and Mt Washington, on the south ridge of Washington. Three 500-lb bombs were aboard and Hank said they used a chisel to defuse them. He recalled talking with one of the Navy men who accompanied them. Hank told the man that he wasn't afraid the help, because if the bombs went off they were all going to get blown up together.

On a different subject, Hank chose not to run in the 1940 Silver Skis race because of the poor course conditions. Sigurd Hall died in that race, after crashing into rocks in fog near Little Africa.


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Last Updated: Thu Oct 12 12:55:56 PDT 2006