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On ice
for 60 years
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[NOV. 14, 2005]
HOPEWELL JUNCTION, N.Y. --
On Nov. 18, 1942, a navigational training plane left an airfield in
Sacramento on a routine training flight through the Central Valley
area of California. The plane and its three crew members were never
heard from again. Military personnel, forest rangers and highway
patrol officers spent a month looking for the craft before the
search was suspended in December 1942, after snow in the Sierras
became too deep to continue the search.
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Recently, the body of one of the airmen was discovered by climbers,
fully intact, still wearing his parachute and totally embedded in
ice.
Forensic experts and military body recovery specialists carefully
melted away the 400-pound block of ice and granite that encased the
body after it was airlifted from the side of 13,710-foot Mount
Mendel. The ice preserved the body's skin and muscle, as well as the
man's sun-bleached hair. Even his green uniform, including thermal
undershirt and sweater, were completely intact. The team also
uncovered a fountain pen, sewing kit and rip cord for his unopened
parachute.
[Compu-Weather]
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