LORAN Station Operator

Operated the chains of low-frequency hyperbolic navigation transmitters that gave ships and aircraft their position before GPS — often from remote stations in Attu, St. Paul Island, and other places sailors send people to forget about them.

The Story

When LORAN-C went dark on 8 February 2010, it ended a navigation system that had guided US shipping through D-Day, Korea, Vietnam, and the Cold War. The last stations were turned off by a phone call.