Operation Frozen Recovery: Alaska Soldiers Retrieve Historic Signal Corps Radio

Official Statements

• 311th Signal Command Theater, November 15: “Story by Capt. Steven E. Sparks On Nov. 15, 1957, following a routine training mission en route to Elmendorf Air Force Base, now part of Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, a U.S. Air Force TB-29 bomber crashed into a glacier in the Alaskan wilderness. The crash killed six of the 10 crew members. The survivors were rescued, and the wreckage of the disaster lay dormant for years buried in the ice and snow of what is now known as Bomber Glacier.”

• 311th Signal Command Theater, November 15: “Hidden behind a wall of rock more than 6,000 feet tall in one of Alaska’s most rugged mountainous regions rests the plane wreckage and a piece of U.S. Army Signal Corps history. Aboard the aircraft that fateful day was a BC-348-Q Wells-Gardner & Co. Signal Corps radio, used as the crew’s saving grace to send out the final distress message for help. This radio was left behind by the rescue crew and forgotten as simply part of the Cold War-era wreckage, where it lay for nearly 69 years.”

• 311th Signal Command Theater, November 15: “Early in 2026, Capt. Steven Sparks, commander of the 59th Signal Battalion’s Headquarters and Headquarters Detachment, known as the WAMCATS, identified the historic military radio in a hiker's personal video blog of the crashed aircraft in the Alaskan backcountry. Recognizing the artifact's historical value, Sparks initiated months of coordination with the Alaska State Parks, Ranger Offices, the State Historian Society, and the Matanuska Historic Society. All listed organizations approved WAMCATS’ recovery of this unique piece of military heritage from the state park.”

• 311th Signal Command Theater, November 15: “On the morning of Aug. 10, 2026, Sparks, Maj. Theodore Mansfield, Staff Sgt. Isaac Arnett, Staff Sgt. Marion Byrd, Staff Sgt. Jay Welch, Sgt. Stephen Engler, Sgt. Skylor Maynard, Pfc. Connor Morgan, and Pfc. Colton Gotham set out toward Bomber Glacier. The trek tested the nine-man team immediately, starting with a steep 1,200-foot elevation gain in the first mile, followed by 2 miles of bouldering across rugged glacier runoff.”

• 311th Signal Command Theater, November 15: “After another 4 miles and 700 feet of elevation gain, the team established their base camp at Upper Reed Lake, where they faced a daunting 2,000-foot vertical climb to the summit. The physical challenge intensified during a 3-hour climb of scrambling and high-angle bouldering to reach the peak. Ahead lay a massive, 2-mile-wide glacier, with the wreckage of the crashed TB-29 bomber on the far side. Using climbing rope, the team lowered gear and personnel onto the ice. They located the radio 200 feet north of the main fuselage.”

• 311th Signal Command Theater, November 15: “Using a wild game sled, they hauled the heavy radio across the glacier and up a slick, 60-degree blue-ice slope before hoisting the radio back over the mountain lip. The team took turns carrying the radio back to base camp, arriving just as sunset and heavy fog zeroed out visibility.”

• 311th Signal Command Theater, November 15: “The following morning, the team moved 1 mile from base camp to establish a landing zone at 4,400 feet above sea level. They coordinated with the 207th Aviation Regiment, Alaska Army National Guard, for aerial extraction. Despite thick, low-lying fog, a UH-60L Black Hawk helicopter flew nap-of-the-earth beneath the weather ceiling, navigating the treacherous mountain contours to reach the LZ. The crew safely loaded the team and the historic radio and returned them to JBER successfully concluding the operation.”