Clifford H. Cram

Starkweather, ND

1935, 2763, Mystic, F-1, Educational Adviser
1937, 2767, Camp Crook, F-19, Educational Adviser

Educational Adviser Clifford H. Cram was a native of North Dakota, having come to that state as a boy of six. His father was a pioneer minister in the region of Sherwood, Mohall, Maxbass, and Eckman. Graduated from high school in 1913, Mr. Cram taught school, attended college at Grand Forks, served in the national army, attended college more at Des Moines and Minot, taught school, farmed, and sold gasoline until appointed to work with this company in August, 1935.

Below is a poem written by Mr. Cram as a tribute to the Explorer II balloon that launched from the Stratobowl site near Rockerville, SD.

Watching for the Stratosphere Balloon
Armistice day in morning darkness
We climb in the car and go,
From Rapid City southward
To see this mighty show.
All humming the same tune, The roads are full of cars
On every hillside some are parked
Watching for the stratosphere balloon.
The roads become congested,
A double line is switched,
The road patrol is busy,
Cars coming back are ditched;
At last we find a parking place
Facing the western moon;
Cold we are, but happy too,
Waiting for the stratosphere balloon.
More cars come up, more cars go by,
Some of them will gain the bowl;
Six o'clock, now six-fifteen,
This "watchful waiting" tries the soul.
The light is strengthening in the east,
The big ascension must start soon,
The people peer through frosty shields
Watching for the stratosphere balloon.
The crowds expectant watch the spot
From whence the bag will rise,
The airplanes hum far up above
And circle the red'ning skies,
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Around again as they wait the start
Now across the paling moon;
We stamp our feet, we slam the doors,
Wishing for the stratosphere balloon.
And now the hills are rosy tipped,
The sun's pink shafts among the green,
A stir - a movement on those hills -
A bulge - a bubble of silvery sheen!
"There she is!" a shout comes from the throng,
Explorer II mounts toward the moon;
The crowd's all out; they gaze aloft,
Watching now the stratosphere balloon.

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