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Ocean Station November

While patrolling an area of the Pacific Ocean designated “Ocean Station November”, the daily routine for the crew of the Coast Guard Cutter Pontchartrain included launching weather balloons and conducting lifeboat drills. But in the early morning hours of October 16, 1956, the Coast Guardsmen prepared for the possibility of a mid-sea rescue when they received a distress call from a trans-oceanic airliner with multiple engine failures.

  • Damon Stuebner
    Director
    STORIS: The Galloping Ghost of the Alaskan Coast
  • Damon Stuebner
    Writer
    STORIS: The Galloping Ghost of the Alaskan Coast
  • Damon Stuebner
    Producer
    STORIS: The Galloping Ghost of the Alaskan Coast
  • Richard Olson
    Key Cast
    "Interview"
  • Doak Walker
    Key Cast
    "Interview"
  • Robert Harris Cohen
    Composer
    STORIS: The Galloping Ghost of the Alaskan Coast
  • Damon Stuebner
    Editor
    STORIS: The Galloping Ghost of the Alaskan Coast
  • Project Type:
    Documentary
  • Genres:
    Historical, Military
  • Runtime:
    12 minutes 5 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    January 18, 2019
  • Country of Origin:
    United States
  • Country of Filming:
    United States
  • Language:
    English
  • Shooting Format:
    DVCam
  • Aspect Ratio:
    1.33:1 (4x3)
  • Film Color:
    Black & White and Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
  • Juneau Underground Motion Picture (JUMP) Society
    Juneau, Alaska
    January 17, 2019
  • Spotlight Documentary Awards
    Atlanta, GA
    June 27, 2019
    Spotlight Silver Award
  • Woods Hole Film Festival
    Woods Hole, MA
    July 29, 2019
    Official Selection
  • Northwest Ohio Historic Film Festival
    Fostoria, OH
    August 17, 2019
    Official Selection
  • G.I. Film Festival
    San Diego, CA
    September 29, 2019
    Official Selection
  • God Country Family Christian Film Festival
    Eau Claire, WI
    December 8, 2019
    Official Selection
  • Perennial Film Festival
    Port Charlotte, Florida
    Official Selection On-Line Venue
  • NYC Short Documentary Film Festival
    New York City, New York
    March 22, 2020
    Official Selection
  • San Francisco Veterans Film Festival
    San Francisco, CA
    November 8, 2020
Director Biography - Damon Stuebner

Videographer and photographer Damon Stuebner grew up in Pennsylvania and graduated from Alvernia College with a degree in Communications. He worked as a newspaper photographer and a TV news videographer and editor in Pennsylvania and Alaska. He has worked on numerous live and taped broadcast productions for various stations in Alaska and for the University of Alaska. Other than broadcast video, he also has had numerous gallery exhibitions of his work in landscape and wildlife photography.

He currently works for the Alaska State Division of Libraries, Archives and Museums doing motion picture and video preservation. He is also the curator and host of “Treasures from the State Film Library”, a presentation series of historical films from the Alaska State Library Historical Collections.

When he’s not editing video, you can find him cycling the roads of Juneau, Alaska, or doing landscape photography in the Southeast Alaskan rainforest.

Add Director Biography
Director Statement

While working on a documentary about the history of the Coast Guard Cutter Storis, I met a local individual named Doak Walker. Doak was a 29-year Coast Guard veteran (and retired locksmith) who in his later years organized numerous veterans’ reunions and conferences. He showed great generosity in helping me get interviews for the Storis documentary project.

Later, I interviewed him about his Coast Guard career, and he told me the incredible story of the 1956 rescue of Pan AM 943, a trans-oceanic airliner that ditched in the mid-Pacific after multiple engine failures.

Unfortunately, Doak passed away in early January 2019, shortly before I finished the film about the rescue he was so proud to have been a part of. With his passing, I felt it was most appropriate to screen the film locally first. I presented the film at a public screening of works by local filmmakers. Many in the audience knew Doak through his local locksmith business. After some minor changes, I showed the film two days later at his memorial service to a crowded hall of family, friends, and fellow Coast Guardsmen, both retired and actively serving.