Official Newspaper of Eddy County since 1883

Dakota Datebook: April 27, 2020

First Monarchs

April 29, 2020 — On this day in 1931, the King and Queen of Siam were treated to a state dinner with President Hoover at the White House. They were the first absolute monarchs to ever visit the United States, and the first Asian monarchs to visit the White House. They entered the country from the north at Portal, N.D.

Lungs in the Pulpit

April 30, 2020 — The National Anti-Tuberculosis Association was founded in 1904; the North Dakota affiliate started up soon after and the tuberculosis sanatorium was built at Dunseith. This date in 1911 was set aside as Tuberculosis Sunday, during which North Dakota pastors and priests in every pulpit explained tuberculosis to their congregations… the symptoms, how it spread and how it could be treated. One in three people, mostly poor, had TB – just as it is today in developing nations.

Dr. Herbert Wilson was dealing with an early day TB crisis at Ft. Berthold. At that time, the ND Tuberculosis and Health Assn. took part in an epidemiology study of two of Wilson’s infant patients stricken with tubercular meningitis. The experience caused Dr. Wilson to remain involved with the group, which is now called the American Lung Association.

POW Opsahl Released

May 1, 2020 — On this day in 1945, waist gunner Sgt. Roland Opsahl, of Lakota, woke up to unfamiliar silence. He’d been a POW since his plane, “Old Daddy,” was shot down nearly 14 months earlier. Observers said an outboard engine was in flames as the plane spun to the left and crashed. Seven crew members parachuted, but the pilot, co-pilot and another waist gunner died.

The survivors were captured and taken to Stalag Luft 1 at Barth, Germany. It had begun as a camp for British officers late in ’42, but when American airmen began arriving early in ‘43, it was expanded into two compounds – one for officers and one for enlisted men. By May Day, 1945, there were almost 9,000 prisoners. The camp was silent that morning, because the guards had fled in the face of the advancing Russian Army, which liberated the prisoners.

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