A New Bridge Opens: Tacoma, Washington, August 1940 Dale Wirsing stepped onto the Tacoma Narrows Bridge for the first time in his life. Three years in the making, the bridge had just opened the month before, connecting the Kitsap Peninsula to the city of Tacoma, Washington. Under Dale's feet the roadway of the suspension bridge gently rose and fell, like a boat rolling on the ocean. Far below churned the fierce waters of the Narrows. Through his living room window, Dale had watched with curiosity as workmen built the bridge towers, strung the cables, and then finally pieced the roadway together high above the water. How exciting it was to finally walk on the bridge! But was it normal for such a mammoth bridge to bob and bounce, even on a calm evening such as this? A local engineer, Clark Eldridge, had designed the bridge to be lightweight and flexible . perhaps a little too flexible. When the wind blew, the center span bounced up and down.

The men who built the bridge nicknamed her "Galloping Gertie." People said they could see the cars ahead of them disappear and reappear as they drove across her. Others claimed it was like riding a roller coaster! Dale didn't know this would not just be his first but his only time walking across her. Nor did he have any idea of the tragedy that would soon befall Gertie in just a few months' time, on his birthday.