On 27 March 1964, the largest earthquake in the recorded history of North America struck South-Central Alaska. Tsunamis devastated Valdez, Seward and Kodiak. Gaping fissures, crumbled buildings and burst pipes dotted Anchorage. In the immediate aftermath, Major James Rowe arrived at Kulis from the airport, reporting that its control tower had been demolished. Two Air Guard members sped over with a wrecking truck, which they used to free three men trapped in the rubble. Rowe, meanwhile, started the engines of a C-123 and went aloft, serving as an emergency control tower and relaying what he could see to the rest of the world.