CHRISTMAS STOLEN FROM PUTNAM COUNTY FAMILIES IN 1952

ROBERT
NEAL
DALTON

2nd Cousin 1X Removed

The loss of a child would have to be the most devastating experience a parent could ever face.
A piece of yourself…lost…
Futures…forever changed…

alton

Robert was born on August 23, 1931, and was the only child of Charles Herman and Minnie Bertha Austin.

Minnie A Austin Dalton (1900 - 1992)
Charles Herman Dalton (1895 - 1946)

This 'young' man died on December 20, 1952, at the age of 21 in a military plane crash at Larson Air Force Base in Grant, Washington.

A large number of Air Force comrades from Korea and the Northwestern U.S. Air Force bases were headed home for the holidays through a program known as Operation Sleigh Ride.

The passengers' names had been drawn by 'lot number' for the 'special' privilege.

MILITARY CRASH STOLE CHRISTMAS IN 1952
By Amy Davis
Herald-Citizen, Cookeville, TN Sunday, 23 December 2012, front page & pg. 2 http://www.ajlambert.com

The entire article above is ONLINE... it will pat your heart.
I could never, nor would I try, to 'summarize' the story.
The heartache that these families experienced is beyond anything that I can imagine or attempt to write about.
Oh, the pain.

December 20, 1952
115 Passengers and Crew
5 Young Men from Putnam County, Tennessee, aboard.

Sources for the following article - 'Going Home'
“92 Die In Plane Smash Near Moses Lake Base,”Spokane Daily Chronicle, December 20, 1952, p. A-1; “Home Front -- Globemaster Crash, Larson Air Field,”Korean War Educator website accessed October 31, 2007 (http://koreanwar- educator.org/topics/airplane_crashes/globemaster_larson/p_globemaster.htm).

Going Home
Most of the passengers were Air Force personnel from Korea or Northwest bases, catching a ride home for Christmas in a program called Operation Sleighride. The plane, a C-124 Globemaster, was enroute to Kelly Air Force Base near San Antonio.
According to eyewitness reports, the plane made a sharp left turn immediately after takeoff, causing the left wing tip to hit the ground. The plane then broke up and caught fire, just north of the runway. Some of the 121 passengers escaped by running out of the rear of the plane. But most of the people in the cavernous main passenger compartment and cockpit were caught in the wreckage and fire. Rescue teams worked for hours to look for survivors and recover bodies. At first the death toll was thought to be 92; that number was later reduced to 87.
A subsequent investigation showed that the crash was caused by “locked”controls at takeoff, but whether this was pilot error or mechanical malfunction is still in dispute. It was, at the time, the worst disaster in aviation history. It was, however, surpassed only six months later when another Air Force transport crashed near Tokyo, killing 129. That, too, involved a C-124.

By Jim Kershner, November 02, 2007

"The plane sat on the tarmac for 45 minutes, then just before dawn at 6:27 am, it traveled at full throttle down the long 13,500 foot runway. The large aircraft lifted from the runway, climbed to 100 feet and banked left sharply. Within two minutes of takeoff, the plane began to lose altitude and came down with its left wing striking the ground sending the aircraft into a cartwheel across the snow-laden field at the end of the airstrip. The tanks ruptured and the wreckage became a fiery inferno. There were 82 airmen and 5 crewmen killed in the crash, 29 airmen survived along with 2 crewmen. Many of the survivors were seated in the tail section of the plane. The victims were rushed to the base hospital which was about four miles from the crash. Some of the injured needed as much as 12 pints of blood. By 9:00 am, 81 donors had given blood and 48 pints of whole blood and 100 units of plasma were sent to the base hospital. By noon, more doctors and nurses as well as volunteers had gone to the hospital to care for the injured."

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Unlike World War II and Vietnam, the Korean War did not get much media attention in the United States. The most famous representation of the war in popular culture is the television series “M*A*S*H,” which was set in a field hospital in South Korea.
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I found the following information and felt the same way...

"Perhaps you’ve never heard of this,

but you should know about it."

Source: http://therealrevo.com/blog/?p=90261 for the following article…..

"Perhaps you’ve never heard of this, but you should know about it. One of the worst air disasters occurred on this date 60 years ago. We lost 87 servicemen that day.

I was visiting my mom and dad in Washington State this past weekend when I learned about this disaster. I took the picture above which is the newly erected memorial to our lost and injured servicemen of that fateful morning. They were just trying to go home to their families for Christmas.

One of the world’s worst air disasters occurred in December of 1952 and involved veterans who were stationed stateside and veterans returning home from the Korean War and Far East Command. At that time, the Air Force had a program called “Operation Sleigh Ride”, which brought servicemen home in time for the holidays. The lucky passengers’ names were drawn by lot number. This particular flight was scheduled for Texas and points east. The accident took place at 6:27 a.m. on December 20. There were 105 passengers and 10 crew members. Eighty-two passengers and 5 crew members were killed when the plane crashed shortly after takeoff.

The accident took place at Larson Air Field. The base was geographically located five miles northwest of the city of Moses Lake, Washington, fourteen miles southwest of Ephrata, Washington, and seventeen miles south of Soap Lake, Washington. Larson AFB closed in June of 1966. The plane took off from the runway, climbed to about 100 feet, started to turn left, and then plunged back to earth. The plane shattered into pieces of metal in a fiery crash."

PARENTS OF ROBERT NEAL
Minnie (Austin) Dalton
Born: 3 February 1900, Smithville, DeKalb Co., TN
Died: 17 July 1992, Nashville, Davidson Co., TN
Daughter of Ammon Wylie Austin (1861- 1946) & Minnie Sherman Medlen (1865-1951)
Charles Herman Dalton
Born: 23 May 1895, Baxter, Putnam Co., TN
Died: 7 August 1946, Nashville, Davidson Co., TN
Son of James Buchanan Dalton (1857-1926) & Sarah Myatt (1874-1950)

The following information was found at http://www.ajlambert.com

"Minnie sewed beautifully, was a resourceful cook and had the greenest thumb in the county. Her lawn and flowers were always the prettiest in the neighborhood. Eventually she became interested in wildflowers and enjoyed many excursions to find and transplant wildflowers - which always thrived without ever wilting. Tragedy was no stranger to Minnie. She lost her husband and her father in the same month. Five years later, her son Robert was killed in a military plane crash. Another son, Bill, died suddenly. Minnie became seriously ill in 1980. She lived with her daughter in Tullahoma, TN until her death in 1992. Through-out all difficulties, her self- determination and positive attitude have been an inspiration to all who knew her."

Robert Neal Dalton (1931 - 1952)

2nd cousin 1x removed

Charles Herman Dalton (1895 - 1946)

father of Robert Neal Dalton

Sally Myett (1874 - 1950)

mother of Charles Herman Dalton

George Washington Myatt (1842 - 1911)

father of Sally Myett

Nancy E Myatt (1870 - 1896)

daughter of George Washington Myatt

Dovie Mary Martin (1894 - 1933)

daughter of Nancy E Myatt