TERRE HAUTE, IND., Sept. 15-A twisted mass of wreckage, still sprinkled with campaign ribbons and the personal effects of Army Air Force personnel, today marked the spot where 29 persons died in the head-on collision between the Chicago $ Eastern Illinois Railroad's luxurious Chicago-Miami express and a northbound mail train north of Terre Haute yesterday. Twenty-six of the dead were Army airmen, many of them veterans of the Italian campaign, and the remainder were train crewmen. All of the dead airmen were riding in the first car, which was ripped open when the passenger train, speeding through a heavy fog, rammed into the stationary mail train.
One Western Pennsylvanian-Sgt. Donald W. Clapp, whose father, Donald W. Clapp, lives on RFD No. 7, Meadville, Pa., was among those killed.
The Pittsburgh Press, Fri., 15 Sep 1944, p.2, Pittsburgh, Pa.
Tech. Sgt. Donald William Clapp, Jr., of Route 7, Meadville (Neason Hill), who was one of 26 non-commissioned officers in the Air Force killed in a railroad wreck in Indiana on Thursday, had left his Crawford county home only last Sunday after a month's furlough grandted him at the completion of 50 missions in Italy. He had served with the Army Air Forces as a radio operator for a seven months' period. He had expected to be sent to Atlantic City, N.J., for reassignment, but word received by his widow from Armyaughorities on Friday morning said that he, with the other men, was enroute to a redistribution center in Florida.
Sgt. Clapp was inducted September 16, 1942 and took his training at Miami, Fla; a post in Wisconsin; El Paso, Texas, and Tucson, Ariz., before going overseas late in December, 1943. He arrived home August 10 on the furlough which ended Sunday, reporting at Chicago for duty.
Sgt. Clapp leaves his widow and a 23 month old son, Donald William Clapp, 3rd, and his parents; also three sisters, June of Detroit, Mrs. Edward Pearson and Mrs. Alvin Anderson of Meadville. His grandmother, Mrs. Mabel Clapp of Guys Mills, also survives. He attended Meadville High School.
Titusville Herald, 16 Sep 1944, p.7, Titusville, Pa.
Age at death per cemetery records: 23 yrs. 7 mos. 21 days.
One Western Pennsylvanian-Sgt. Donald W. Clapp, whose father, Donald W. Clapp, lives on RFD No. 7, Meadville, Pa., was among those killed.
The Pittsburgh Press, Fri., 15 Sep 1944, p.2, Pittsburgh, Pa.
Tech. Sgt. Donald William Clapp, Jr., of Route 7, Meadville (Neason Hill), who was one of 26 non-commissioned officers in the Air Force killed in a railroad wreck in Indiana on Thursday, had left his Crawford county home only last Sunday after a month's furlough grandted him at the completion of 50 missions in Italy. He had served with the Army Air Forces as a radio operator for a seven months' period. He had expected to be sent to Atlantic City, N.J., for reassignment, but word received by his widow from Armyaughorities on Friday morning said that he, with the other men, was enroute to a redistribution center in Florida.
Sgt. Clapp was inducted September 16, 1942 and took his training at Miami, Fla; a post in Wisconsin; El Paso, Texas, and Tucson, Ariz., before going overseas late in December, 1943. He arrived home August 10 on the furlough which ended Sunday, reporting at Chicago for duty.
Sgt. Clapp leaves his widow and a 23 month old son, Donald William Clapp, 3rd, and his parents; also three sisters, June of Detroit, Mrs. Edward Pearson and Mrs. Alvin Anderson of Meadville. His grandmother, Mrs. Mabel Clapp of Guys Mills, also survives. He attended Meadville High School.
Titusville Herald, 16 Sep 1944, p.7, Titusville, Pa.
Age at death per cemetery records: 23 yrs. 7 mos. 21 days.
TERRE HAUTE, IND., Sept. 15-A twisted mass of wreckage, still sprinkled with campaign ribbons and the personal effects of Army Air Force personnel, today marked the spot where 29 persons died in the head-on collision between the Chicago $ Eastern Illinois Railroad's luxurious Chicago-Miami express and a northbound mail train north of Terre Haute yesterday. Twenty-six of the dead were Army airmen, many of them veterans of the Italian campaign, and the remainder were train crewmen. All of the dead airmen were riding in the first car, which was ripped open when the passenger train, speeding through a heavy fog, rammed into the stationary mail train.
One Western Pennsylvanian-Sgt. Donald W. Clapp, whose father, Donald W. Clapp, lives on RFD No. 7, Meadville, Pa., was among those killed.
The Pittsburgh Press, Fri., 15 Sep 1944, p.2, Pittsburgh, Pa.
Tech. Sgt. Donald William Clapp, Jr., of Route 7, Meadville (Neason Hill), who was one of 26 non-commissioned officers in the Air Force killed in a railroad wreck in Indiana on Thursday, had left his Crawford county home only last Sunday after a month's furlough grandted him at the completion of 50 missions in Italy. He had served with the Army Air Forces as a radio operator for a seven months' period. He had expected to be sent to Atlantic City, N.J., for reassignment, but word received by his widow from Armyaughorities on Friday morning said that he, with the other men, was enroute to a redistribution center in Florida.
Sgt. Clapp was inducted September 16, 1942 and took his training at Miami, Fla; a post in Wisconsin; El Paso, Texas, and Tucson, Ariz., before going overseas late in December, 1943. He arrived home August 10 on the furlough which ended Sunday, reporting at Chicago for duty.
Sgt. Clapp leaves his widow and a 23 month old son, Donald William Clapp, 3rd, and his parents; also three sisters, June of Detroit, Mrs. Edward Pearson and Mrs. Alvin Anderson of Meadville. His grandmother, Mrs. Mabel Clapp of Guys Mills, also survives. He attended Meadville High School.
Titusville Herald, 16 Sep 1944, p.7, Titusville, Pa.
Age at death per cemetery records: 23 yrs. 7 mos. 21 days.
One Western Pennsylvanian-Sgt. Donald W. Clapp, whose father, Donald W. Clapp, lives on RFD No. 7, Meadville, Pa., was among those killed.
The Pittsburgh Press, Fri., 15 Sep 1944, p.2, Pittsburgh, Pa.
Tech. Sgt. Donald William Clapp, Jr., of Route 7, Meadville (Neason Hill), who was one of 26 non-commissioned officers in the Air Force killed in a railroad wreck in Indiana on Thursday, had left his Crawford county home only last Sunday after a month's furlough grandted him at the completion of 50 missions in Italy. He had served with the Army Air Forces as a radio operator for a seven months' period. He had expected to be sent to Atlantic City, N.J., for reassignment, but word received by his widow from Armyaughorities on Friday morning said that he, with the other men, was enroute to a redistribution center in Florida.
Sgt. Clapp was inducted September 16, 1942 and took his training at Miami, Fla; a post in Wisconsin; El Paso, Texas, and Tucson, Ariz., before going overseas late in December, 1943. He arrived home August 10 on the furlough which ended Sunday, reporting at Chicago for duty.
Sgt. Clapp leaves his widow and a 23 month old son, Donald William Clapp, 3rd, and his parents; also three sisters, June of Detroit, Mrs. Edward Pearson and Mrs. Alvin Anderson of Meadville. His grandmother, Mrs. Mabel Clapp of Guys Mills, also survives. He attended Meadville High School.
Titusville Herald, 16 Sep 1944, p.7, Titusville, Pa.
Age at death per cemetery records: 23 yrs. 7 mos. 21 days.
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