Squat, barrel-chested, Norwegian-born Bernt Balchen was one of the great U.S. peacetime heroes. He began flying more than 20 years ago, piloted Rear Admiral Richard E. Byrd across the Atlantic in 1927 and over the South Pole in 1929. Last week Bernt Balchen, now a 42-year-old U.S. Army colonel, was back in a hero's role again—this time in barren, ice-capped Greenland.
A Flying Fortress with 13 men aboard smacked down on its belly 100 miles in land on the treacherous Greenland icecap. Balchen and young (32) Navy Lieut. Aram Parunak, a onetime Ursinus College football hero, teamed to try a rescue.
But...
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