I learned of the story behind these photographs in 2004 when I was doing the first edition of this album. I had managed to track down Ray Fetzer and he told me the story.

I used a translator to translate the words into morse code for the journaling.
Journaling:
FLASH FROM: BARTER ISLAND ALASKA TO: PENTAGON CONTACT WITH ENEMY. RUSSIAN SUBMARINE SURFACED JUST OFF THE COAST, CLAIMING VENTILATION PROBLEMS. SUBS GUN POINTED AT STATION. PLEASE ADVISE.
The Cold War had begun the previous year. The Soviet Union detonated its first nuclear weapon on 29 August 1949. That same summer Raymond Fetzer was on duty. It was like any other day until he heard Morse Code over the Alaska Airlines voice frequency.

-... .- .-. - . .-. ....... .. ... .-.. .- -. -.. --..-- ....... -... .- .-. - . .-. ....... .. ... .-.. .- -. -.. ....... -.-. .- -. ....... -.
Barter Island, Barter Island can you respond in Morse Code?
Ray adjusted the modulation and volume before responding.
-.-- . ... ....... .-- .... --- ....... .- .-. . ....... -.-- --- ..-
Yes. Who are you?
.-- . ....... .- .-. . ....... - .... . ....... .-. ..- ... ... .. .- -. ....... ... ..- -... -- .- .-. .. -. . ....... .--- ..- ... - ....... --- ..-. ..-. ....... - .... . ....... -.-. --- .- ... - .-.-.- ....... .-- . ....... .- .-. . ....... .... .- ...- .. -. --. ....... ...- . -. - .. .-.. .- - --- .-. ....... .--. .-. --- -... .-.. . -- ... ....... .- -. -.. ....... -- . .- -. ....... -.-- --- ..- ....... -. --- ....... .... .- .-. -- .-.-.-
We are the Russian submarine just off the coast. We are having ventilator problems and mean you no harm.

Holly crap! Ray looks out the door and sure enough there is a Russian Sub in the bay pointing its big gun right at them. Get the 2nd Lieutenant in here now. By this time the crew at Ladd AFB in Fairbanks wanted to know who Ray was talking to. Ray informed them and they wanted to know if he was joking? When the reply was no. The Flash message was sent to Washington DC.
It would take more than 30 minutes for the alert aircraft, to arrive by that time the Russians had fixed their problem and had left the area. My take on all this was the Russians were gathering intelligence. They wanted to know how long it would take for the US military to respond. For the men at Barter Island, the result was the additional duties of searching for any signs of submarines.


Project Template Album 5 https://www.oscraps.com/shop/Project-Template-Album-No.-5.html
ArtPlay Palette Care https://www.oscraps.com/shop/ArtPlay-Palette-Care.html
Magic Sparkles 2 https://www.oscraps.com/shop/Magic-Sparkles-No.-2-BrushSet.html
Take Flight 2 https://www.oscraps.com/shop/Take-Flight-No.-2.html

Various aA Spackled Textures
Various other brushes.
Underwater Designer Set by Aqva Regia
Texture by Art-Cascadea
The submarine was created from a photograph from Wikipedia.