1942: TWA Flight 3 - Movie star Lombard and 21 passengers die in plane crash

Within a few hundred yards of the top of Double Up Peak, 11 miles north of Goodsprings, Nevada, a doughty band of six searchers found the missing TWA plane which crashed at 7:30 last evening, carrying movie star Carole Lombard and 15 army pilots to their death.

The ship apparently failed to clear the crest by a short distance, crashed and fell back down the mountainside some 450 yards, where it was found in three feet of snow at 10:30 this morning by searchers who went in from Goodsprings.

The party was led in by Lyle Van Gordon, former high school football star, who saw the crash last night and the subsequent fire, marked the spot and was waiting for the group when it arrived early this morning from Las Vegas.

Deputy Sheriff Jack Moore, Robert B. Griffith, George Bondley, Jack Hart and Otto Swartz comprised the party, which left at daybreak on foot and climbed straight up the mountain to the scene of the tragedy.

They spent only a short time there, left Hart and Bondley to guard the wreckage and returned to Las Vegas to report their findings and organize a party to return and bring out the bodies.

The 19 passengers aboard and members of the crew were apparently all instantly killed, their bodies strewn over an area several hundred yards in diameter. The ship was completely demolished.

There was no theory at all as to the possible cause of the disaster, for the pilot apparently flew into the mountain which is only 7,500 feet in height and nothing of an obstacle to the big Douglas transport ship.

The army pilots aboard were returning from Albuquerque (N.M.), where they had just ferried several planes to the new bomber base.

Miss Lombard, her mother and press agent were returning to Hollywood after a trip to Indianapolis to open a drive for the sale of defense bonds.

The Goodsprings party was the only one operating from that side of the mountain but there were more than 100 searchers on the Blue Diamond side.

Immediately rescue crews were organized in Las Vegas, ambulances were sent out, army officers and soldiers, sheriff’s deputies, police officers, firemen and volunteers started out, warmly dressed for the long hard search over the rough terrain.

Clem Malone, city employee, reported that he got within perhaps a half a mile of the burning plane but was stopped by a deep chasm.



He traveled on the old Potosi mine road as far as he could by car, then went on foot for the rest of the way.

Elevation of the mountain where the plane crashed is about 8,000 feet and heavy snow is reported on the ground there. The mountain stands about 4,000 feet above the surrounding terrain.

One of the first searching parties out last night was Jack Larry, John F. Cahlan, news editor for the Review-Journal; James H. Down, Jr., advertising manager for the Review-Journal; Tweed Wilson, old-time Indian resident of the area; A. McKnight, rancher and Woody Pierce, police officer of Las Vegas.

Pierce returned to his police duties early this morning, and the others set out on horses furnished by McKnight and the Wilson ranch to pursue the search.

Only a short time later, G.C. “Buck” Blaine, Dan Campbell and R.R. Russell arrived at the scene with their horses and started the search. They were joined by many others whose names were not reported there, all intent on locating the missing ship and passengers for whom little hope was held.

Major H.W. Anderson, executive officer at the army air corps gunnery school, Major Paul Holtz and about 25 soldiers joined in the search last night and today both on the ground and in the air.

Clark Gable arrived in Las Vegas at 1 o’clock this morning by plane after receiving word at the Burbank airport that the ship was missing. He was accompanied by a party of close friends and business associates who included Eddie Mannix, William Streeter and Howard Strickling.



TWA and army planes flew over the area from early this morning until the ship was located. A party of TWA and CAA officials came to Las Vegas to join in the search.

Las Vegas was the center of the news interest in the nation last night and today as long distance telephone calls from press associations and newspapers poured in from Los Angeles, Salt Lake City, Chicago and New York. The plane crash story was a “flash” on the wire of the United Press whenever a new report was sent out and this story took precedence over all others.

One or more reporters and photographers came to Las Vegas from Southern California to represent the United Press, Associated Press and International News Service.

The peace officers of Clark County and Las Vegas joined with the volunteers in conducting the search with CAA and army officials.

Frank Caldwell of the investigation section of the civil aeronautics board’s safety bureau came to Las Vegas to investigate the TWA liner’s crash. Two air safety investigators, W.E. Carey of Santa Monica, California, and Perry Hodgeden of San Francisco, were ordered to the scene.

The pilot of the TWA liner, which left its starting point at LaGuardia airport in New York City at 10 p.m. Thursday, was W.C. Williams. His co-pilot was Morgan A. Gillette and the hostess was Miss Alice F. Getz.

The plane took off from the Las Vegas airport after stopping for fuel. It was learned that the plane had intended to land at Boulder City but was unable to do so because of the lack of lighting at the field. It then came to Las Vegas, refueled, took off again and flew on the course toward Los Angeles.

Seven minutes later, it broke its radio contact with the Las Vegas control station without explanation and the crash is believed to have occurred about 20 minutes later.

Following is a list of passengers aboard the airliner which crashed near here last night: Corporal MB. Affrine, air corps; Second Lieutenant James C. Burham, air corps; Sergeant A. M. Belejekak, air corps; Second Lieutenant Hal E. Browne, Jr., air corps; Sergeant Frederick P. Cook, aircorps; First Lieutenant Robert E. Croch, air corps; Frederick J. Dittman, air corps, rank undetermined; Second Lieutenant K. T. Donaahue, aircorps; Mrs. Clark Gable (Carole Lombard), Hollywood; Lois Hamilton, Detroit, Michigan; First Lieutenant Robert F. Negren, air corps; Sergeant Edgar A. Negren, air corps (brother of Lieutenant Negren); Second Lieutenant Charles D. Nelson, air corps; Mrs. Elizabeth K. Peters (Mrs. Gable’s mother), Hollywood; Second Lieutenant Stuart L. Swenson, air corps; Private Martin W. Tellrank, air corps; Sergeant David C. Tilgman, air corps; Private Nicholas Varsamine, air corps; Otto Winkler, movie press agent, Hollywood. Crew members: Pilot Wayne C. Williams; co-pilot Morgan A. Gillette and Hostess Alice F. Getz.

Tuesday 18 March 2014

http://www.rgj.com/article/20140318/LIV/303180015/From-1942-Lombard-pilots-die-plane-crash?nclick_check=1

Four ways to repair the Pentagon’s effort to ID the missing

Last week, we wrote about the Pentagon’s efforts to find and identify the 83,000 service members missing from past conflicts – of which the military ID’d just 60 last year. As our story laid out, the mission has been hampered by outdated scientific methods, a lack of public outreach and cumbersome bureaucracy.

Lawmakers and Pentagon leadership have zeroed on the overlapping agencies and lack of clear chain of command in the mission. Last month, Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel ordered a review of how the military manages the effort.

But streamlining the structure won’t be enough, many outside experts say. Here are four ideas to really fix the effort.

Overhaul use of DNA

The main agency involved is the Joint Prisoner of War/Missing in Action Accounting Command, which runs the forensics laboratory used to identify the remains of the missing. J-PAC starts with historical and medical records first and leaves DNA last.

That’s backwards from all other modern day efforts to identify the missing, which begin the process with DNA and let that powerful tool lead the process. Using DNA as the primary identification method was used in Argentina after the dirty war, in the Balkans after the genocide there, and here in the United States after 9/11 and Hurricane Katrina.

If changes don’t bring the methods up to date with the latest forensics techniques, Ed Huffine, a DNA expert, said, “The system will still fail.”

Another issue is the type of DNA J-PAC uses. It relies on mitochondrial DNA, which is passed down from the mother and is consistent along the maternal line for generations. A grandmother shares the same mitochondrial DNA with her daughter and her daughter’s children, for example.

But other scientists involved in identifying the missing stopped using maternal DNA almost 20 years ago. Instead, in places like Argentina and Bosnia, scientists use nuclear DNA, which can be compared to the mother, father, children and siblings of the person to make a positive ID. It’s also faster and cheaper to process than mitochondrial DNA.

In Bosnia, they would extract DNA from a bone on a Monday, sequence the DNA on a Tuesday and do any necessary troubleshooting by the end of the week, said Huffine, who helped designed the effort in Bosnia. For the Pentagon, similar DNA processing often takes months.

Since J-PAC works decades-old cases, scientists would face times when nuclear DNA samples from immediate family might not be available. In those cases J-PAC must rely on maternal DNA, using, for example, the DNA from a missing soldier’s niece. But here too, experts say, J-PAC could make better use of DNA.

J-PAC won’t rely on maternal DNA to make an ID, because it can be shared across different families. However, even the most common mitochondrial DNA is only shared by 5 percent of the population – meaning J-PAC could be 95 percent sure of the person’s identity when using it, according to Joshua Hyman of the University of Wisconsin. He and others argue that DNA is the strongest and fastest place to start an ID, regardless of the type, rather than leaving it last in the equation.

Family samples of maternal DNA could also be combined with samples of paternal DNA to make a match. J-PAC should request all the different types of DNA to be sequenced at once.

Do a national, high-profile outreach campaign to collect needed DNA samples for WWII – before it’s too late.

Siblings are among the best DNA matches for WWII missing service members, especially if the MIAs had no children. That generation is dying. The Pentagon could enlist the help of Hollywood – Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg have been suggested – to publicize a massive effort to collect as many DNA reference samples from family of the missing. TV ads, social media, radio and YouTube videos and more could all be used to solicit participation. The U.S. government has actually given Argentina millions of dollars in grants to do just that.

The more samples for a missing service member are on hand the easier it is to make a match.

“Given that close relatives of WWII soldiers are older, how long are we going to wait to collect their DNA? They represent the best opportunity to find a match,” Hyman said. “Are we just waiting for the issue to go away, assuming that when they die there will be no one left that cares enough to cause a fuss?”

Do massive disinterments of 9,400 unknown service members to try to identify with DNA

More than 9,400 service members from WWII and the Korean War are buried as “unknowns” in American cemeteries around the world because of the limitations of science at the time. But many of them could now likely be identified if the Pentagon exhumed the remains for DNA testing.

“Seems to me like the logical approach,” Clyde Snow, a world-renowned forensic anthropologist said.

With the copious records the U.S. military has, the unknowns could be broken down into like groups from theater, battle or event, and dug up accordingly to keep it manageable.

In order to be both efficient and respectful of the remains, scientists say the bodies could be left in place and tested using a mobile DNA unit and then housed in a mausoleum while DNA cross referencing is done.

Embrace outside help

Experts say about 45,000 MIAs are recoverable, likely an overwhelming task for any one organization or agency. So some people formerly involved in the effort have suggested enlisting universities, historical organizations, military unit associations, veterans and other interested groups.

At J-PAC’s sister agency, the Defense Prisoner of War/Missing Personnel Office, there was an idea floated of building regional centers that could be responsible for researching and building cases on the missing from their area. That would tap into a pool of people who care deeply about those who are missing, building “a cadre of people who are focused towards the mission in manageable chunks,” said Navy Commander Renee Richardson, formerly of DPMO.

“We’d be leveraging all the things universities already do,” said Richardson. “If you go to a university, let’s say Harvard, and tell them, ‘from your class of ‘37, you still have three people missing from WWII.’”

This would require much more openness with records and findings than the Pentagon has been willing to share in the past, Richardson said.

In the search for remains – the hardest task of the mission – locals can often help. There are Belgians, for example, who live near the Battle of the Bulge and have long worked to find missing American soldiers. They have the a dvantage of speaking the native language and being a part of the community, but are often shunned by the Pentagon.

Anthropologists have also suggested outsourcing overseas archaeological operations for continuity and efficiency. Rather than flying scientists from Hawaii to spend a few weeks looking for remains in, say, Papua New Guinea, there could be a team stationed there. Their work would be continuous rather than filled with the time lags of sometimes years between digs that hinders J-PAC’s efforts.

Tuesday 18 March 2014

http://newpittsburghcourieronline.com/2014/03/18/four-ways-to-really-fix-the-pentagons-effort-to-id-the-missing/

Seven migrants drown trying to reach Greece, 2 missing

The Greek Coast Guard recovered the bodies of seven migrants, including two children, who drowned in the Aegean Sea after trying to reach the Greek island of Lesvos from Turkey on a plastic rowboat, officials said on Tuesday.

Another eight migrants were rescued and two were missing, according to a spokeswoman for the Merchant Marine Ministry who said a Turkish cargo ship spotted two of the survivors in the early hours of Tuesday morning and informed the Greek authorities. “The migrants told the Turkish crew their boat had capsized and the Turks alerted us.”

The nationalities of the migrants were not immediately known.

A Greek Navy rescue helicopter and five Coast Guard vessels searched the sea between Lesvos and Turkey for signs of the missing. A Greek cargo ship and a passenger ferry joined the search later in the day.

It was unclear how the migrants’ boat capsized, the official said, noting that weather conditions at sea had been very good. She did not confirm local reports describing the migrants as Syrian.

Greece remains a major transit country for migrants from poor or war-torn nations seeking a better life in the European Union. Athens has repeatedly appealed for help in handling a seemingly relentless influx. Hundreds of people attempt to reach the Greek islands from Turkey in boats that are often overloaded and unseaworthy.

In January, 12 people drowned when a boat carrying immigrants from Afghanistan and Syria overturned near Farmakonisi, another island in the Aegean. The incident occurred while the migrants’ fishing boat was being towed by a Greek Coast Guard vessel, drawing condemnation by international human rights groups and triggering an investigation by a Greek prosecutor.

Last month, the European Union’s border protection agency Frontex said the number of migrants entering the bloc illegally rose 48 percent in 2013 compared with the previous year.

Tuesday 18 March 2014

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/19/world/europe/migrants-drowned-trying-to-reach-greece.html?_r=0