Dakota Datebook: February 27, 2023

War bride in N.D.

Among North Dakota's many immigrants have been women who married American servicemen stationed abroad. One such war bride arrived in Bismarck on March 1 in 1948.

Anni Leier was to marry her WWII sweetheart, Edwin Ackerman, a school teacher in New Leipzig. But when she got off the plane, she found herself stranded, because she couldn't speak English. After some difficulty, cab driver L. W. Zacker realized she needed a ride to New Leipzig and agreed to drive her there the next day. He then took her home to stay with him and his wife for the night.

Mrs. Jacob Opp (pronounced Up), who spoke German, came over to the Zackers' to translate. When asked what she thought of the United States, Anni said she was surprised at the abundance she encountered. In Germany, she said, one could get little food or clothing, and almost everything was sold on the black market.

Dakota Datebook written by Merry Helm.

Miracle passenger

On March 2 in 1951, a horrible accident struck when a Mid-Continent Airlines flight en route to Minneapolis from Kansas City crashed at Sioux City, killing fifteen people.

Witnesses to the crash said visibility had been fair, but a sudden snow squall blotted out the airplane as it came in for a landing. Instead of finding the runway, it came down in a cornfield. Witnesses could only hear the crash through the storm-the first fatal crash in the airline's 17-year history, and the first ever airliner crash in Iowa.

A Bismarck man was among the ten survivors. His name was Budd Quam, district manager of the Anheuser-Busch Brewing Company. He was traveling home after attending a sales meeting in Omaha.

The plane had already aborted one landing, and as Quam later told reporters, the pilot circled the field and began another turn, but the plane banked steeply, and the nose tipped toward the ground.

Quam said, "I could see the ground approaching; it couldn't have taken more than a couple of seconds." The next thing he knew, he was wandering a hundred feet from the crash. He was later surprised to learn of the death toll, especially since his injuries had been minor.

It was a bad stretch for the airline, as another plane had crashed earlier in the week, but all the passengers had safely evacuated before the plane became engulfed with flames. One woman was aboard both flights. She perished in the second crash. Also among the dead were four army privates, the pilot and the copilot.

It was a setback for air travel, and a time of shock and mourning. Who knows why some live and some die? But on this date, Budd Quam of Bismarck survived.

Dakota Datebook written by Sarah Walker.

Elwyn Burns Robinson

North Dakota lost one of its most noted historians on March 24 in 1985. Elwyn Burns Robinson passed away at the age of seventy-nine, after a life-long career documenting North Dakota's history as a distinguished professor at the University of North Dakota.

Robinson was born on a small Ohio farm in 1905. After earning his PhD from Western Reserve in Cleveland, Robinson was quickly offered a job to teach history at UND by Dr. Orin Libby. During his thirty-five years as a UND professor, Robinson contributed an extensive amount of literature on the early history of the state, including his monumental History of North Dakota.

Robinson's growing affections for North Dakota were best shown in his series of radio talks that aired across the state in the late 1940's: "Perhaps this bit of our state history will nourish in our hearts more affection for our [state]. To love North Dakota is good for us, and our loyalty is good for the state."

This Dakota Datebook written by Jayme Job.

The North Dakota state flag was adopted by the North Dakota Legislative Assembly on March 3 in 1911. The resolution to adopt the flag was brought forth on January 21, 1911 by Colonel John H. Fraine.

Fraine urged the assembly to adopt a flag that would resemble the flag carried by the North Dakota infantry members in the 1898 Spanish-American War and the 1899 Philippine War. Therefore, upon its adoption, the flag took the color, size, and form of the North Dakota regimental flag. The only difference was that a red scroll was added to the base of the flag bearing the name of the state.

Featuring a large open-beaked eagle, the flag contains many references to the original thirteen colonies, including thirteen stars and stripes. In fact, in 1953 a bill was introduced to change the flag because of its uncanny resemblance to the United States Coat of Arms, but the bill was quickly defeated.

Dakota Datebook written by Jayme L Job.

"Dakota Datebook" is a radio series from Prairie Public in partnership with the State Historical Society of North Dakota and with funding from Humanities North Dakota. See all the Dakota Datebooks at prairiepublic.org, subscribe to the "Dakota Datebook" podcast, or buy the Dakota Datebook book at shopprairiepublic.org."