thedrifter
01-14-06, 08:31 AM
A dad’s death, a son’s search
Man seeks families of lost flight’s crew
Saturday, January 14, 2006
Kelly Hassett
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
ALEXANDRIA, Ohio — Surrounded by yellowed newspaper clippings and photos of a father he doesn’t remember, John Pylant Jr. knows part of his past lies in his search for seven sets of strangers.
His hands pass over images of his dad, John B. Pylant, and the seven other Air Force men he was flying with on the December day in 1956 when their plane crashed into Alaska’s Bald Mountain on a training mission.
For the past three weeks, Pylant’s been searching for the children of the men on that plane —children who, like him, have few or no memories of their fathers.
"To me, we’re connected by this chapter in our lives," said the 51-year-old Alexandria man.
Pylant always wondered about his dad, a U.S. Air Force radio operator who died at the age of 26. Pylant was 2 years old when he died and was raised by his mother and stepfather.
And since he began his search — sparked by an Air Force-themed scrapbook his daughter gave him for Christmas — he’s thought about how his life would have been different if his father had lived.
"I was so young, I didn’t ever know my dad. I have pictures of him holding me, just like I hold her," Pylant said, gesturing toward his 3-month-old granddaughter Hannah, asleep across the living room. "The what-ifs jump in there, and you think how life makes its changes on you."
Since Christmas, he’s scoured the Internet and local libraries across the country for any family members of the men who flew with his father. He has some names, but hasn’t made contact yet.
Pylant’s search is by no means easy, especially 50 years after the accident.
There are ways to look for active, guard or retired members of the Air Force, but finding family of deceased airmen can be difficult because of privacy laws, said Judith Grojean, spokeswoman for the Air Force Personnel Center at Randolph Air Force Base in Texas.
An online search for the plane itself — a refueling tanker — turned up a group called the Alaska Extreme Fourwheelers. Club members traveled to the crash site and, moved by the tragedy, raised money for a memorial plaque with the names of the men who died.
Pylant wants to tell anyone he finds in his search about the memorial.
"They need to see that plaque," he said, pointing to an Internet picture of the memorial. "They need to know that their fathers weren’t forgotten."
Alaskans had long heard of the Air Force plane that crashed into the mountainside, about an hour north of Anchorage, but few had seen the site, said Anchorage resident Dan Lance, the club’s president.
Lance and some members made a run up to the wreckage in 2003, and at that point they all decided: "We need to do something about this."
The memorial was finished the following summer, and placed on the plane wreckage in June 2005.
"It was a group effort from the whole state," Lance said, noting that other off-roading clubs and enthusiasts were involved.
The most poignant part of it all was when Pylant passed along his thanks to the group, Lance said.
"It just kind of made everything worthwhile, that someone had gone out and searched for it," Lance said. "It made a difference in our lives.
"If he can ever make it to Alaska, any one of us would bring him up there to pay his last respects."
khassett@dispatch.com
Ellie
Man seeks families of lost flight’s crew
Saturday, January 14, 2006
Kelly Hassett
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
ALEXANDRIA, Ohio — Surrounded by yellowed newspaper clippings and photos of a father he doesn’t remember, John Pylant Jr. knows part of his past lies in his search for seven sets of strangers.
His hands pass over images of his dad, John B. Pylant, and the seven other Air Force men he was flying with on the December day in 1956 when their plane crashed into Alaska’s Bald Mountain on a training mission.
For the past three weeks, Pylant’s been searching for the children of the men on that plane —children who, like him, have few or no memories of their fathers.
"To me, we’re connected by this chapter in our lives," said the 51-year-old Alexandria man.
Pylant always wondered about his dad, a U.S. Air Force radio operator who died at the age of 26. Pylant was 2 years old when he died and was raised by his mother and stepfather.
And since he began his search — sparked by an Air Force-themed scrapbook his daughter gave him for Christmas — he’s thought about how his life would have been different if his father had lived.
"I was so young, I didn’t ever know my dad. I have pictures of him holding me, just like I hold her," Pylant said, gesturing toward his 3-month-old granddaughter Hannah, asleep across the living room. "The what-ifs jump in there, and you think how life makes its changes on you."
Since Christmas, he’s scoured the Internet and local libraries across the country for any family members of the men who flew with his father. He has some names, but hasn’t made contact yet.
Pylant’s search is by no means easy, especially 50 years after the accident.
There are ways to look for active, guard or retired members of the Air Force, but finding family of deceased airmen can be difficult because of privacy laws, said Judith Grojean, spokeswoman for the Air Force Personnel Center at Randolph Air Force Base in Texas.
An online search for the plane itself — a refueling tanker — turned up a group called the Alaska Extreme Fourwheelers. Club members traveled to the crash site and, moved by the tragedy, raised money for a memorial plaque with the names of the men who died.
Pylant wants to tell anyone he finds in his search about the memorial.
"They need to see that plaque," he said, pointing to an Internet picture of the memorial. "They need to know that their fathers weren’t forgotten."
Alaskans had long heard of the Air Force plane that crashed into the mountainside, about an hour north of Anchorage, but few had seen the site, said Anchorage resident Dan Lance, the club’s president.
Lance and some members made a run up to the wreckage in 2003, and at that point they all decided: "We need to do something about this."
The memorial was finished the following summer, and placed on the plane wreckage in June 2005.
"It was a group effort from the whole state," Lance said, noting that other off-roading clubs and enthusiasts were involved.
The most poignant part of it all was when Pylant passed along his thanks to the group, Lance said.
"It just kind of made everything worthwhile, that someone had gone out and searched for it," Lance said. "It made a difference in our lives.
"If he can ever make it to Alaska, any one of us would bring him up there to pay his last respects."
khassett@dispatch.com
Ellie