Daily Sitka Sentinel
Home-Owned Newspaper
and The ARROWHEAD PRESS
Member of The Associated Press
iOcaCopy
VOLUME XVI
Wednesday, November 30, 1955
NtMBER 247
Two receive
honorary degrees
at U. of Alaska
FAIRSAiNKlS (/P) Former gov
ernor Ernest Gruening, for
years rated the territory's top
orator, took the floor at the uni
versity of Alaska yesterday to
explore 'the subject of demo
cracy. At the same Itime (he im
plied Alaska would never have
the full .benefit of American de
mocracy until it has achieved
statehood.
!His speech preceded present
ation of a doctor of laws de
gree to him in tribute to his
“many years of residence, his
work as director of territories
and insular possessions, 14 years
as governor and general contri
bution to the history of Alas
ka.”
The former governor and
senator Knowland (R-Calilf)
were honored simultaneously
in a special convocation on the
university campus.
in ms aaaress to me convo
cation audience. Gruening dir
ected /his remarks toward demo
cracy and the reslponsilbilities of i
individual citizens to its pres
ervation.
/Democracy, Gruening said,
has been revitalized during the
past 40 years as it has faced
one challenge after anotherj
(from the rise of totalitarian-;
isms opposed to its basic ideals
“Education and democracy
are one and inseperable,” Gru
ening declared, citing Ithe uni
versity Of Alaska as an institu
tion seeking to teach these de
mocratic principles to Alask
ans.
/Both Grueninlg & Sen. Know
land received the purple hood
denoting the doct oral degrees
from Elmer Rasmusson, vice
president Of the board of re- j
gents.
In presenting Knowland’s de j
gree, Rasmusson paid tribute
to him as a “distinguished mem
ber of the United States sen
ate, soldier, publisher, cham-,
pion of moral rights of all peo
ple and a sympathetic support
er of Alaskan statehood.”
He said Knowland had main
tained a “record of courage,;
founded on belief” and evpress
ed appreciation for the senators
emphatic stand in getting the
Alaska statehood vote on the
senate floor.
V eotchcomblng
9 Ernest must have fell: fun
ny that he was on a platform
with a Republican who support
ed statehood. After all, hasn’t
he ibeen saying for years that
ONLY Democrats are in favor
of statehood for Alaska?
-H ,
# Today ends the month ol
the turkey — tomorrow starts
the month of the tree.
• Our siports writer asked
everyone but ithe Veatchcomer
wiho was (going to win the Lions
tournament. We could have
told him — The team which
makes the most points.
• After a tragedy like the
one at Fairbanks — Whait can
you say to a father or mother
of small children.
Death toll reaches 14 after jet crashes into
dwellings at Eielson AFB near Fairbanks
Plane spews fire,
Jiorror and death
thru six residences
FAIRBANKS (/P) An air
force jet fighter (plane veer
ing like a bird with a crippled
wing, spewed death and hor
ror and fire yesterday through
half a dozen eight-family hous
in(g unis at Eielson Air Force
base.
Even (today, nearly 24 hours
after the disaster at the base
26 miles southeast of here on
the Alaska thighway, there
was no exact figure on the
casualties.
An air force spokesman an
nounced 14 /Were known dead.
There possibly were two oth
ers. Ice-covered debris anc
wreckage was toeing combed in
the grim bunt.
Many' of the victims were
women and children home for
the lunch hour.
Ulliglll UI II1U1C WCiC lUjXU^U
severely in the crash or ensu
ing fire. One was described as
critical.
Dozens of others suffered
varying degrees of frostbite
from their desperate fight a
gainst flames that leaped and
danced for four hours in 16
below zero cold.
One poignant note in the
over-all tragedy — the worst
ever to hit one of Alaska’s Ibijg
air bases — was (the death of
the ll-month-old triplet sons
of a sergeant.
Most of the victims were
members of the families of mil
itary personnel who lived in
the new and modern housing
units at (the base.
The triplets were the sons
of Sgt. and (Mrs. William Fim
ple, formerly of Ellwood City,
Pa.
An officer who lived in one
of the houses adjacent to the
scene of destruction told of
finding Fimiple kneeling in
debris, burned and with his
shirt blown Off. His arms en
folded his other two small
children, and he was shouting:
“My other boys! My other
boys!”
The mother was standing
beside a flaming building with
her screams nearly drowned
in the roar and the confusion.
Boh parents were burned ser
iously.
There were many narrow es
capes, too, in the carnage
which one officer described as
“terrible . awful.” A
man told of 'being blown out
a window; another rwas blown
downstairs; a couple escaped
injury as if ire-spluttering plane
wretckalge stopped a few inches
from their apartment wall.
The pilot of the ill fated
F84 jet Was Lt. Alfred F
Pounders, 28, of Monticello
Miss. He perished.
Witnesses said his plane
veered at almost a 90-degree
angle as it left the runway. II
limped along at low altitude
unable ito climb, then crashec
into the homes about a quar
ter of a mile away.
One witness, Rudy Hammer
an electrical engineer who was
working in the area, describ
I ed it Igraipfoically:
“The plane bounced on one
! building, throwing it all intc
i flames. Then it (bounced on an
j other and a wing flew off
| Then it rijpped down a high
tension power line. From
there it smashed right through
an apartment house and scat
tered everywhere.”
The tralgedy struck shortly
after 12:30 p. m. while many
children were home from
school for i he lunch hour. A
“■thank God” was sounded by
many parents that it didn’t
come five minutes later when
even more children would
■ have been in the 'buildings.
The apartment house that
; /took the full impact was de
molished. The dead triplets
were in a front room of that
building. The bursting gaso
line tanks of the plane spewed
gasoline over five others and
set infernos ralging.
Parts of the wreckage were
scattered over a two block area
The flames and confusion
were increased, some witness
es said, by bursting oil tanks
scattered from the buildings.
Miss Pamela Harris, 21, who
lived at the base, said the oil
tanks (burst like bombs and
she saw the flames enlgiclf one
group of school children. She
said she never learned their
fate.
A total Of 500 or 600 volun
teers were flighting the wildly
'spreading flames as soon as
they could reach the scene.
Fire units rushed over the
more than 20 miles of ice-cov
ered highway from Ladd Air
Force base, on the outskirts of
Flaming debris
stops just 4 inches
from officers house
by Chudk Hoyt
Fairbanks News-Miner
Staff Writer
FAIRBANKS </P) Capt. and
Mrs. Norwin E. Wheeler of
Manchester, N. >H., were four
j inches from possible injury or
! death yesterday when the
flaming deibris of an F84 jet
fighter plane came to a stop af
ter crashing through a housing
unit at nearby Eielson • air
force base.
The plane had already plum
meted through one 8-unit a
partment building, set fire to
five other larfge structures and
skidded approximately 200
yards spreading death and de
struction through a courtyard
between the buildings and Sl
ot oss a main road separating
enlisted men’s quarters from
officers’ homes.
When it came to a stop, one
wing tip was four inches from
the wall of the Wheeler apart
ment.
Wheeler had asked his wife
for an early lunch. While they
were dining they heard the
roar of the jet and the crash
They rushed outside and found
the wreckage almost nudging
heir apartment.
The only damage to the
; Wheeler apartment was crack
' ed plaster on the wall.
Fairbanks to join in the fight.
Aircraft set uip a shuttle ser
vice to take the iburned and
crippled to Uhe Ladd Hosipital.
The scene around the holo
caust was a tragic one as air
force men who lived in the
buildings searched frantically
for some trace of wives and
children. Some cried out. The
faces of others mirrored their
fears in stony silence.
!
j Lt. R. E. (Marshall, an army
Officer, told of being knocked
downs! airs.
“Our tbaby was on the bed
next to the wall and if was
•thrown to the floor,” he re
lated. “The baby wasn’t hurt.
My wife was knocked' over,
too.”
The Marshalls ran out to
i find the biuldings all around
; them in flames.
Fred A. Sorri, a plumber
working at the base, said the
impact of the crash “actually
knocked four apartments righi
out Of the building.” There are
; bathtubs and plumbing -fix
tures resting half a block away”
He told of finding a sewing
machine 300 feet from where
a woman had been sewing on
it.
Eielson is one of Alaska’s
major air force bases. It has
12,000 foot long runways.
They were built to handle the
nai ion’s biggest bombers.
Planes as big as B36s have op
: erated from it. It is the base
I from which R29s have been
| flying for several years on ov
er-the-pole -weather Observa
tion flights. It lies in a vast,
almost flat (hinterland of Ithe
interior, where no mountain
rises (for 100 miles in any di
rection.
Cabot claims Reds
trying to force
paper disarmament
UNITED NATIONS (JP) U. S.
delegate Henry Cabot Lodge,
Jr., declared today Russia was
trying to force the U. N. to ac
cept “paper disarmament.” He
called Soviet proposals danger
ous and hypocritical.
“We will not lend ourselves
to it,” Lodge said.
He spoke after Russia had
ripped into Western disarma
ment policy and stated that the
Western approach “cannot pro
. duce positive results.”
Soviet: deputy foreign min
ister Kutnetsov said such con
trol and inspection plans as
President Eisenhower’s “open
sky” proposal could only in
crease mutral distrust and
world tension unless they were
part of a general disarmament
program.
Kutnet sov, openinig a gener
al disarmament debate in the
general assembly’s 60 nation
political committee, called on
| the Western powers to concen
i trate their fut ure talks primar
! ily on issuse on which agree
ment seemed close.
The Western powers have in
' sisted the first task should be
the creation of safeguards and
controls (before any disarma
ment rould take place.
India will not be
drawn into Red
bloc Nehru warns
GAUUUTTA (IT) witn tne
Soviet Union’s two top leaders:
listening, iprime minister Neh
ru said lioday the world need,
not fear that his Russian
guests will draw India into
the communist ibloc.
He told an enormous crowd
here to welcome Soviet prem
ier Bulganin and communist
party secretary Khrushchev.,
that India is sticking to its
“basic policy” Of not joining
any “Camp or alliance.”
Then in an apparent refer
ence to the (blasts against the:
west (by Khrushchev nd Bul
ganin in previous speeches in
India, Nehru declared1:
“We try to (be friendly with
all countries whether we agree
with them or not. That is the
reason why we refrain from
criticizing other countries, ev
en when we disagree with their
policies, unless circumstances
compel us to explain our view
point.”
Millions of wildly enthusia
stic Indians packed Calcutta’s
streets and parks to geet the
two Kremlin chiefs. The turn
out was believed the greatest
in India since the funeral Of
the late Mohandas K. Gandhi.
Peronista party
banned by gov't. ,
in Argentina
BUENOS AIRES (JP) The
government today issued a de
cree restoring the newspaper
La Prensa to the Paz family.
At the same time it ordered dis
solution of the Peronista party.
The recree of provisional pre
sident Pedro Arambau spelled
a finish to (the totalitarian pol
itical machine which Juan de
Peron organized six years ago
to smother opposition and tight
en his reiSgn.
Expropriation of La Prensa
in 1950 was one of the steps
Peron took to clamp his control
on the nation.
The return offthe newspaper
to its rightful owners came only
18 days after Aramtouru took
office.
Almost five years ago, the
Peron government engineered
its expropriation fey conigress
and handed it over to his organ
ized labor supporters.
Its publisher before expro
priation, Dr. Alberto Gainz Paz
is expected to return from ex:ile
tomorrow to resume control of
the newspaper.
_
Marine forecast from "Wed
nesday to Thursday.
Oultside waters Dixon En
i trance to Sitka southerly winds
15 to 25 raph this afternoon and
j tonight.
Intermittent rain.
Outside waters Sitka to Ya
| kutat east to southeast!; winds
| 10 to 20 mpih.
! Intermittent rain and patches
I Of fOg. _ ^