Alaska city honors Guardsmen killed in crash after ‘64 quake
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — A month after the second most powerful earthquake ever was recorded, the Alaska port community of Valdez remained in ruins.
A hulking Alaska National Guard cargo plane’s mission April 25, 1964, was to deliver Gov. William Egan to oversee efforts to rebuild the town on a new site after the magnitude 9.2 earthquake.
After dropping off Egan and surveyors, the twin-engine Fairchild C-123J Provider took off in a heavy snowstorm to return to Anchorage carrying the Guard’s adjutant general, Maj. Gen. Thomas P. Carroll, and three others.
Three minutes later and about a mile due west of where more than 30 people died when the earthquake ripped apart the city dock, the plane struck the water head-on, at full speed, killing all on board. Despite rescue efforts, it quickly sank to the bottom of Prince William Sound.
The Valdez plane crash made national headlines but has mostly faded from memory for all but a few, including surviving family members and Chuck Volanti.
The former Air Guardsman, who arranged the fateful flight as dispatcher, has been working for four years from his home in Olympia, Washington, to honor those lost in the humanitarian mission. On Saturday, his efforts were realized at the unveiling of a memorial he and Valdez City Clerk Sheri Piece helped design.
Also killed in the crash were Lt. Col. Thomas Norris Jr., the pilot; Maj. James Rowe, co-pilot; and Tech. Sgt. Kenneth Wayne Ayers Sr., flight engineer.
“The crew, what can I say?” Volanti said. “They were decorated veterans. We were close, like family.”
Many relatives of the men killed attended the dedication of the memorial, which carries the likeness of each man. The plaque, in part, says: “They were men of the highest principle, grounded in self-sacrifice, duty, honor, integrity and strong moral values. In serving to revive the spirit of others they forfeited their own.”
Robin Norris Theobald, then 8 years old, vividly remembers the day of the crash, a Saturday. Her father, the pilot, came to her with a question: “You know, I have this flight, and I don’t have to go on it. What do you think I should do?”