Killed May 13, 1945 on New Guinea
Hometown: Montoursville, PA
In the early afternoon of Sunday, 13 May 1945, a United States C-147 type aircraft departed Sentani Air Strip Hollandia Dutch New Guinea for a three hour navigational training flight to Hidden Valley (Pas Valley), located near the Baliem Valley (Shangri-La), in an unexplored, uncharted region in the interior of Dutch New Guinea. An hour after departing Hollandia, the aircraft crashed
into a cloud covered mountain and burned.
There were only three survivors. Eleanor was among the members of the flight who died. The bodies were buried in the side of the mountain and remained there until 1958 when an American Search and Recovery team located and disinterred the bodies. There were only three bodies that were able to be positively identified. Eleanor's body was one of the three. The other victims of the crash were buried in a mass grave in Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery, St. Louis, Missouri.
A book has been written about the accident and recovery - Lost in Shangri-La: A True Story of Survival, Adventure, and the Most Incredible Rescue Mission of World War II by Mitchell Zuckoff.
Killed May 13, 1945 on New Guinea
Hometown: Montoursville, PA
In the early afternoon of Sunday, 13 May 1945, a United States C-147 type aircraft departed Sentani Air Strip Hollandia Dutch New Guinea for a three hour navigational training flight to Hidden Valley (Pas Valley), located near the Baliem Valley (Shangri-La), in an unexplored, uncharted region in the interior of Dutch New Guinea. An hour after departing Hollandia, the aircraft crashed
into a cloud covered mountain and burned.
There were only three survivors. Eleanor was among the members of the flight who died. The bodies were buried in the side of the mountain and remained there until 1958 when an American Search and Recovery team located and disinterred the bodies. There were only three bodies that were able to be positively identified. Eleanor's body was one of the three. The other victims of the crash were buried in a mass grave in Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery, St. Louis, Missouri.
A book has been written about the accident and recovery - Lost in Shangri-La: A True Story of Survival, Adventure, and the Most Incredible Rescue Mission of World War II by Mitchell Zuckoff.
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