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An even colder plunge

With amusement, I saw the picture and read about the annual polar bear plunge in Lake Coeur d’Alene. My grandson, Capt. Joseph Kilian of the U.S. Air Force, could tell them what a real polar bear plunge is.

Joey was stationed on Greenland for a year. To help pass time when not on duty, and to keep from being bored, the men from different countries thought up things to do: scavenger hunts across the island, outdoor hockey on the ice and snow, not like the hockey here, and, yes, a polar bear plunge.

The men would run down and jump into the ocean that had ice chunks floating in it. Why do such a thing? Just so he could say he had plunged into an icy Arctic Ocean.

Violet Biggers

Spokane Valley

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