the Grabers: 5/3/20

Tuesday, May 5, 2020

Dragging Main

When we were in highschool, we used to drag Main a lot. Here is the car we used to drag in! (this is a picture of us going to prom)

Especially on a Friday night following a football game. Unless the team lost. Then Al wasn't in the mood. Ha! Al is #33 on the front row.

The city we live in now has a Newton Covid19 Cruising group. If you have Facebook, you can watch a dron video of it.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/552100575415838/permalink/564891464136749/?sfnsn=mo

I wanted to go be a part of it, to give Kaho, our Japanese college student, the experience of dragging Main before she returns to Japan. Allen was reluctant to drive our regular vehicle or truck, although many do drive their family vehicle. He wanted to drive our '54 Chevy. We stored it at the farm this past year so that Kaho could park in the garage over the winter. So off we went to Pretty Prairie.

Detour -

We made a little detour and now this is going to be little detour in the story about dragging Main. I wanted to see where Marion Unruh used to live. I had read about Marion in a book written by a relative, Jim Goering. Jim and Marion were neighbors and friends.

Marion had a runway behind the house in his field for his plane.

1st crash -
As a young boy, he saw an airplane and decided that one day he would fly. In 1933, at the age of 23, he survived the crash of a small airplane that took his brother's life. In 1935, he built his first home made aircraft, a bi-plane. He joined the U.S. Army Air Corps. (A surprise since Pretty Prairie is a Mennonite community and Unruh is a Mennonite name. My grandmother was an Unruh.)

2nd crash -
During the Pacific war, he piloted a B-17 that was hit by anti-aircraft fire, causing a runaway engine. He was forced to ditch off the Russell Islands. Later, he flew a personal aircraft B-24D that he nicknamed "Pretty Prairie Special" after his hometown.

3rd crash -
In December 1943, it was intercepted by enemy fighters. After successfully bombing Rabaul, this plane was seen by local people with smoke coming out of the engine. He and his crew bailed out and the bomber crashed into the hillside of the southeastern coast of New Ireland. Several of the crew who parachuted out landed in the sea and were picked up by locals in outrigger canoes who had paddled out to help them. Japanese forces ambushed them in the huts they were hiding in. Marion was able to escape and hid in the jungle but was eventually captured and held as a POW.

4th and final crash -
He retired in Pretty Prairie, and finished building the bi-plane he had begun in 1937. He nicknamed this the Pretty Prairie Special II. In 1968, he was taking off from this home in the country and the plane dive bombed into the field across from the house and he was killed. He had survived 3 plane crashes in the war but was killed in this one. They weren't sure about the reason for the crash.

Al grew up just a few miles away. In Junior High he often drove the "Fergie" (tractor) to this very field that his dad rented to cultivate it. He remembers seeing Marion Unruh flying around, tipping his wings to him. He did not see the crash though.

I don't recall ever being on this road and saw our old church from a different angle. This is the church we were married in.

We got to the farm and Sid and Gayle took a break from chores to visit with us.

A couple of planes were flying overhead.

After a couple of hours, it was time to head back to Newton for the "dragging Main" event.

I followed behind. Close to Burrton, part of the front tire began to peel! These tires are old and are beginning to crumble! After checking it out, Al thought he could make it to Burrton. We limped to the gas station there.