Hide Article Text (OCR)
17 Fliers Killed In Plane CrashPERU, Aug. 17 WPMfcree soldiers, one of them a heroic sergeantsafety from a flaming army transport plane, today -were given a better than even chance to recover— the only survivors of a crash that took the lives of 17 others.All three—Seret. Robert Lee, 25, of Columbus, 0., Corp. Alonzo Pearson of Somerset county, Pa., and Pvt. James Fern of Abingdon, Va.—Buffered serious bums when the big ship plunged into Peru mountain in this Berkshire hills town Saturday night while on a routine mission out of Pope field, Fort Bragg, N. C In laconic language, the arasv told this story of Sergeant- Lee’s heroism-“With his clothes completely burned from his body, he climbed from the wrecked plane and succeeded in dragging two of his fellow passengers ... to safety. He carried two othem^brn~iheriwrnixxg^ljlp. only to find thev were dead.“He then walked three-quarters of a mile to the nearest highway and directed state poPee baek to the scene of the wreck. He had previously signaled for helb by firing three shots from his revolver.”An investigation of the accident, one of the worst in the history of U. S. military1 aviation, was launched, hut the army released no details on the possible cause.’or 100 yards as it plunged toward t flat spot atop 2200-foot Garnet oeak' on “the mountain, then hurst into -fiamesi—1So thick were the woodlands and he terrain almost impassable that eteratuwosdchoppeiO^SgM:*?^. nurs to hack a path to the wreck-(ge, enabling army medical units to arry out the bodies of the vie-A civilian defense aircraft obser-rtion post in this tiny town of 4 families first sighted the trans-wrt as it plummeted into pine trees Guided by Lee’s revolver shots or help, state police found the servant within a short time.Army officials publicly praised members of civilian defense units i this hamlet, which, describes it-elf as the “highest town in Massa-husetis,” for “prompt and efficient etiom”
Newspaper Details
Fitchburg Sentinel
Fitchburg, Massachusetts, US
Mon, Aug 17, 1942
Page 3
Full Page
Clipped by
Jordyn W.
MO, USA 06 Oct 2015
Other Publications Near Fitchburg, Massachusetts
Sentinel and Enterprise
Fitchburg Sentinel
Fitchburg Daily Sentinel
Fitchburg Sentinel and Enterprise
