Bio: Ranta, Tauno (North Pole Duty – 1969)

Transcriber: stan@wiclarkcountyhistory.org

Surnames: Ranta

---------Source: OWEN ENTERPRISE (Owen, Clark County, Wis.) 07 Aug 1969

Tauno Ranta, Owen (Clark Co., Wis.), a native of Finland, who had spent 10 of the past 13 years at the North and South Poles, flew from the Minneapolis Airport Wednesday, Jul 30, 1969, for Winnipeg, Canada. At Winnipeg, he and four university students flew to "Alert", within 180 miles of the North Pole, where Ranta will be in charge of construction and maintenance for six weeks.

One of his tasks will be to make tanks out of steel sheeting. He is a master mechanic, builder and maintenance operator. He lived nine years near the North Pole, visited the Pole eight times and spent 10 months at McMurdo Base, in Antarctica, visiting the South Pole once.

This trip to "Alert" is under the direction and sponsorship of the U.S. Weather Bureau. Arrangements were made from national headquarters in Washington, D.C.