Crash survivor recalls ordeal in book

July 13, 2007

By Will Elliott/Frontiersman

PALMER - Airman Rupert Pratt was drowsy and having trouble concentrating on his book as the Alaska Air Command C-47 droned up the Susitna Valley on a flight to Fairbanks. In the cockpit, a passenger tuned the radio to Anchorage music stations.

Then the turbulence started.

Pratt reached for his seat belt, but never got it fastened. The plane disintegrated in mid-air.

Pratt tells of those 1954 events and a lifetime spent in reflection in his memoir &#8220Touching the Ancient One: A True Story of Tragedy and Reunion,” featured at book signings throughout the Mat-Su Valley this week. Pratt and five other men were the only survivors of a winter plane crash on Denali State Park's Kesugi ridge, a narrow spine of tundra between the Susitna and Chulitna River valleys. Talkeetna aviation legends Cliff Hudson and Don Sheldon helped rescue the men, who feared they would freeze to death even if they survived their injuries. Ten others perished.

&#8220In a surreal, slow-motion moment,” Pratt writes. &#8220I saw the top of the cabin coming apart. There was a screeching noise as a large section of roof disappeared. The air rushed onto my face and body with a force that threatened to crush me; I could no longer see or breathe. The combination of sounds became one continuous roar. Then I felt myself being pulled from my seat. Something struck my face, and I lost consciousness.”

Later Pratt describes searching frantically through the wreckage for other survivors and the mens' knowledge that at some point they would have to look to their own fates as hands grew numb and torn clothing filled with snow.

&#8220The snow had let up and they could see more of the scattered airplane parts,” he writes. &#8220One large dark shape, the one LaDuke had seen earlier, was probably the fuselage. Farther away, a flatter shape might be a wing. All around them were baggage items, some intact, some broken open with their contents scattered. Without doubt, there were things they could use, but now wasn't the time.”

Pratt intended to tell only that story of survival after meeting the other survivors at a 1996 reunion. As he began to interview others about the crash, the story grew to include more. The more Pratt researched, he said the more people he met whose lives had been affected by the crash and the more perspective he gained on how one event had altered his own life forever.

Kesugi means &#8220the ancient one” in the Dena'ina language. Though Pratt's title references the geography of the crash, he also intends it to suggest the spiritual terrain the survivors entered when they emerged from the wreckage.

&#8220‘Touching the Ancient One' refers to the ridge, of course, but it also means coming close to God,” Pratt said. &#8220We came very close to dying. Going back to Kesugi ridge became almost a spiritual search for me, as well as for wreckage.”

Having returned from that wilderness, Pratt said neither he nor the other men could take their lives for granted again.

&#8220I can't speak for the others, but we all have that feeling,” he said. &#8220I've come to realize I was given a gift of life. I haven't always lived up to that the best I could, but I'm aware of it.”

Now 74, Pratt has become more introspective and concerned with whether he has earned the second chance he says he was given. &#8220You've got to feel like you've paid it back.”

The Military Writers Society of America gave &#8220Touching the Ancient One” a five star review and its 2006 Silver Medal Award for Biographies, presented in San Diego last October. In April, the book was a finalist in the Indie Excellence Book Awards for biography, a national prize.

Pratt was pleased with how the book has been received and said his focus was on telling more than just a survival story.

&#8220Truthfully, I've been amazed by the personal feedback from readers who have found it uplifting. That was my aim,” he said.

The book includes 50 black and white photographs of the crash, rescue and reunion. More of Pratt's photography is hosted online at www.touchingancientone.squarespace.com.

Pratt will share some of those photos and sign books at Vagabond Blues coffee shop in Palmer Saturday, courtesy of Palmer's Fireside Books. He will also appear Sunday at Titlewave Books in Anchorage, at the Latitude in Talkeetna on the 18th, and will be on hand all day at the Veterans Memorial near Byers Lake in Denali State Park July 17. Family members of victims and survivors paid for a monument there honoring the men, and interpretive signs tell their story.

For more information, contact the Latitude at 733-2262, Fireside at 745-2665, or Alaska State Parks at 745-3975.

Contact Frontiersman reporter Will Elliott at 352-2252 or will.elliott@frontiersman.com.