Sister City Delegation brings Misawa, Japan to Wenatchee once again

WENATCHEE — Ninety-four years ago, aviators Clyde Pangborn and Hugh Herndon made history with the world’s first non-stop trans-Pacific flight in a plane everyone in the Wenatchee Valley knows the name of: The Miss Veedol.

Little did the two men know that one lasting historical effect of that flight would be the kinship shared by the sister cities of Wenatchee and East Wenatchee, Washington and Misawa, Japan.

The story is the stuff of legends. Imagine a 35-year-old Pangborn, barefoot from leaving his shoes in Japan to save weight for the flight, climbing out on the wing of his Bellanca J-300 to do 20 minutes of work dismantling the struts for the landing gear to save even more weight, all over the icy waters of the North Pacific.

All of this was after barely managing to take off from a special area of Sabishiro Beach in Misawa. The attempt to set the record was borne of a desire to set some record after the two realized they weren’t going to set the record for fastest flight around the world as they had intended. Instead, noting that the Japanese newspaper Asahi Shimbun was offering a $25,000 prize — a little over half a million dollars today — for the first trans-Pacific non-stop flight, they made the attempt.

If Herndon hadn’t veered off course while Pangborn was asleep, the men would have landed in Seattle. But then unfavorable weather cornered them into the heart of Washington, toward Wenatchee’s Fancher Field, far from town.

It would be 50 years after that historic flight that the Sister City Association was formed. A large delegation of North Central Washington residents made their way to Misawa to sign the Sister City agreement, and in the years since, delegations from each place have traveled between the two locations to continue the tradition, celebrate our kinship, and learn about the culture and commerce of the respective cities.

This year’s delegation from Misawa arrived at Wenatchee City Hall in two large vans carrying students and dignitaries, including Makoto Sasaki, the Vice Mayor of Misawa, Japan. They came bearing not just smiles, but banners declaring their love for the Wenatchee Valley and their city of origin.

On hand inside the council chambers, translator Aidan Morrison stunned the Americans in the room with his perfect Japanese, as he relayed the greetings and salutations between the visiting delegation and their American hosts.

This year’s Apple Blossom Royalty was on hand, as they will be traveling in the fall as part of the Wenatchee delegation that visits Misawa to take part in their festival, the way the Japanese are here for ours. As a surprise for the visiting delegation, the ladies sang a hastily-memorized version of a classic Neil Diamond song, into which they squeezed a few extra syllables in order to get “Sweet Misawa Delegation” into the lyrics.

Students from Misawa will stay with host families here in the Wenatchee Valley, and they were welcomed by Mayors Mike Poirier and Jerrilea Crawford of Wenatchee and East Wenatchee, as well as Wenatchee Valley Misawa Sister City Association President Sarah Fitzgerald.

Families posed for pictures with the students they’ll be hosting in today’s brief ceremony before they were all whisked away for a welcome dinner at the Wenatchee Senior Center at 5 p.m.

The Miss Veedol may have eventually disappeared without a trace, except for the bent propeller that remains in the Wenatchee Museum and Cultural Center, but the friendship between the two cities remains.

Editor’s note: This story was updated to correct the name of Makoto Sasaki, Vice Mayor of Misawa, Japan.

Andrew Simpson: 509-433-7626 or andrew@ward.media