1971 I had just been assigned to Eielson AFB Alaska. I was a young man that had never been able to hunt anything, but rabbits and squirrels. I had never seen a black bear in real life, only on TV. The first thing I did when I got to Alaska was go and buy a dirt bike. This little motorcycle would get me to the back trails behind the base. My first trip out I went up to Manchu Lake. As I rounded a bend in the road I saw something in the ditch. At first glance it looked like a nude man. I slowed the bike down, turned around and went back. Sure enough there lay a body in the ditch with no head. On top of being decapitated it had been skinned. Oh my gosh! What do I do! I've got to notify the authorities! Are they going to think I did this? I've got to find someone and report this as soon as possiable! I headed for the base. I ran that little bike as fast as it would go. I screamed right through the housing area wide open. I rode right up to the front door of the Security Police building. I ran into the Law Enforcement Desk, screaming someone had been murdered. The desk Sargent grabbed two young airmen who were Law Enforcement officers and said for them to go with me and check it out. We went outside and got into their truck. I showed them the way to the location of the body. Upon arriving the policemen got out of the truck, went up to the body. One got sick and started throwing up. The other one was looking mighty pekid. They radioed that there was a body lying in the ditch and they needed back-up. In about 20 minutes here came an NCO. This Tech Sargent calmly drove up and got out of his truck. He then put on a pair of rubber gloves, walked over to the body and rolled it over. He pulled it out of the ditch, walked around it, examined the hands closely, then started laughing. He radioed the desk and said to forget about the call. The Airmen and I did not understand, why did this guy want to forget about a dead body. The Tech Sargent took us over to the body and started pointing out things, like the hands. Also some black hair sticking to the body. The Tech Sargent then informed us that we had found the body of a Black Bear that someone had killed and skinned. They had left the carcuse in the ditch, instead of dragging it back into the woods. Well no wonder the Indians called him brother, looked like a human to me. I quess those two young cops were the laughing stock of the force till they left. Me, I kept a low profile for quite a while. I never told anyone in my Squadron about the incident. In fact I haven't told more than two or three people about it till now. I still think about that thou, every time I skin a bear.
