OCR Text |
Show Wed/Thurs/Fri, October 25-27, 2017 The Park Record W ay we were A Silver Lining Steve Leatham & DAVID NICHOLAS Researchers Just after midnight on Nov. 17, 1941, Park City witnessed an Army B-18 bomber’s fatal crash into Iron Mountain. Five men out of a crew of seven survived. 27-year old Second Lieutenant C. A. Smith was the last man to bail from the doomed aircraft as it flew uncontrollably west of Park City that stormy night. Miraculously, Smith was able to somehow get to the bomber’s tail door and fall out after being knocked into the bomb bay of the ship as it lurched violently to the left. Smith’s parachute opened with such force that it tore the shoe from his left foot and caused blood to spurt from his nostrils. At that time, he was in the clouds over Park City. As Smith fell from the sky above the lower part of town, he heard the plane’s motors and saw it pass by to his left. It was close enough for Smith to see flames from the exhaust pipe and the red passing light on the wing. Shortly before hitting the ground, he heard the explosion and saw huge flames shooting up from the warbird’s burning wreckage on Iron Mountain. Smith became ill and wrapped himself up in his chute as protection from the sleetcovered ground after landing in a freshly manured farm field northeast of town. As Smith he recovered, he moved toward the burning glow of the wreckage, passing through a swamp. After running into a barbed wire fence, he came out on a railroad track and saw the neon lights of what he thought was a service station to his left. After making his way to the gas station, Smith was brought to the Miner’s Hospital a few minutes before 2 a.m. As they say, “Every cloud has a silver lining.” For Smith, at least, the clouds enveloping Park City that Sunday evening were no different. Smith was transported to the infirmary at Fort Douglas the next day and, while recovering, he met a charming, young hospital volunteer from Preston, Id. named Edna June Stoddard. Stoddard was living in Salt Lake City and working as a telephone operator at the time. In fairy tale fashion, Smith married Stoddard a year later in a little white church at the Pocatello Army Air Base while Smith’s Green Tips A green Halloween MOLLY BROOKS Recycle Utah Happy Halloween from all of us at Recycle Utah! As you’re getting ready for trick-or-treating and costume parties, try these tips to reduce the waste created by Halloween festivities: 1. Costumes: Instead of buying a new costume, make your own or purchase one from a secondhand store. Many new costumes contain toxic chemicals or are made from plastic. You can also have a costume swap with friends or repurpose items you already have. 2. Décor: Many Halloween decorations are made of plastic or non-recyclable materials. Decorate with secondhand items instead. You can also use locally grown pumpkins and gourds, which can be composted when you’re done with them. You can also make your own decorations by repurposing materials, like turning old stockings into spider webs. 3. Parties: Reduce party Park City Historical Society and Museum, Thomas F. Hansen Collection C.A. Smith, ill and injured after escaping a deadly plane crash on Iron Mountain, was taken to the Miner’s Hospital, pictured, around 2 a.m. on Nov.17, 1941. 7th Bombardment Group was on a stopover, bound for the war against Japan in the South Pacific. Lieutenant Colonel (Ret.) C. A. Smith returned to Park City more than a decade later with members of his family but said nothing to them of that horrific night in 1941. While working in The Park Record is always looking for new letters Send your letters to: editor@parkrecord.com A-13 his family’s central Idaho logging business, C. A. would often deliver loads of timber to the Park City mines. One can only wonder what he was thinking as he drove past Iron Mountain. Come back next week to learn the story of another of the crash’s survivors. waste by avoiding plastic or paper plates, cups, utensils, and napkins. Use compostable or reusable items instead, and recycle any items that you can. Other ideas are to send electronic invitations instead of paper ones, and buying locally grown food for your party when possible. 4. Candy: Small, individually-wrapped candy given out to trick-or-treaters creates a large amount of waste. These small, metallic wrappers are not recyclable, which means that they’ll all end up in the landfill. Choose candy packaged in more sustainable materials or give out candy alternatives instead. Make sure to bring all of your recyclable holiday waste to Recycle Utah after celebrating. Wishing you a safe and green Halloween! Recycle Utah, your community non-profit drop-off recycling center, provides these weekly tips. Visit their website for more information – www.recycleutah.org. ICE examines Utah for detention sites Associated Press SALT LAKE CITY (AP) – U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement says it’s looking for possible new detention sites in the Salt Lake City area. The Salt Lake Tribune reports that the agency posted a request for information on a federal contracting website last week that states it was trying to identify locations “to hold criminal aliens and other immigration violators.” The agency requested infor- mation in Salt Lake City, Chicago, Detroit and St. Paul, Minnesota. The request states that facilities for the Salt Lake City area must be able to hold 200 to 600 people, must be near a hospital and within 180-miles of the agency’s field office. Agency officials say their Office of Acquisition Management and the Enforcement and Removals Operations conduct market research regularly on renewing or acquiring new contracts by soliciting feedback. |