| Show Family Weekly March s i960 was shat down airman-husban- d 18 months ago over Russia and never heard from since ' now as Mr Eisenhower prepares to visit the UJSJSR she pleads: By MRS JAMES E FERGUSON is an American airman in missing husband Mraction He was shot down by the Russians Sept 2 1958 No word has ever been received from him I don’t know where he is or if he is even alive i ' For more than a year I have known only the agony of Waiting Even hope has been denied me in recent months But maybe I have reason now to hope again In June President Eisenhower will visit Russia It's a remote hope but possibly he will be able to leant what the' Russians did with my husband I must not hope too much though When Premier Khrushchev visited Washington last year the President personally inquired about the fate of Jim and four of his crew also missing The President : ? later wrote me: “To my deep regret Mr Khrushchev’s reply has failed once again to provide any new information In spite of this I assure you that the government of the United States will continue to do everything that can be done to determine the fate of those missing men? Perhaps then there still is reason to hope Perhaps in June something will happen to end my agonized waiting It is not easy to be neither wife nor widow I Debbie ld have two children to raise— Keith who was bom after Ann and his father vanished in a remote region near die Russian-Turkiborder What faces us in this world we live in? How will endless waithe' ing affect us? How will it affect Jim when ' returns? And what if he doesn't return?' I do hot think I am presumptuous to hope that the world leaders will consider how important these questions are to one woman and her children They are not great summit questions yet they fill our lives At least I must hope that Mr Khrushchev and Mr Eisenhower will take time from complex ques- tions to try to answer my simple ones Jim's and my on a happier note in three-year-o- one-year-- JR as told to Mary Pankowski March 1958 when he arranged for us to join him overseas We rented a small house in a German village not far from Frankfurt and lived pretty Jim’s job was much like any other flying over the most dangerous air routes in Europe On Sept 2 that year I was alone with my little girl waiting for Jim to return from a routine flight to Turkey In the afternoon I was putting on water for some tea when a blue Ajr Force car pulled up in front of our house Another followed Two offi- cers grim and silent came up to out door My heart myself this was skipped I recall but I convinced ' nothing to worry about Qne of the officers was Captain Tarbucks Jim's commanding officer The other was Introduced as Major Swanson from the air base at Frankfurt "I have some news for you" the major said softly and I knew this was the news every flier’s wife dreads "Why don’t you sit down?” "What’s happened to Jim?” I insisted They had little information Jim had been aboard an unarmed transport returning to Adana Turkey The plane and its 11 crew members were missing Beyond that they knew nothing When any further news came in they would let me know They stayed about 10 minutes They gave me a phone number to call and asked if I had enough money They asked if there was anything they could do for me Then they left couple--exce- ' pt sh y story-bega- n minutes I sat stunned and helpless Then suddenly I grabbed my littlp ‘girl and ran out the door into the narrow street stumbling on the rough pavement Joyce a neighbor girl of my own age called to me and I ran to her Still clutching Debbie I gasped out die horrible news Joyce helped me back to my house and somehow I finished making the tea An hour later I had gained control of myself and accepted the news After all Jim was only "missing” There was hope He would come back to us I was sure - V Timlin thickly Nirrh I ISM We had just finished dinner with Joyce that night when Sergeant Burgeron from Jim’s outfit drove up "You’ve got to come to the base Rita ” he said "Its no good for you to be out here alone” I didn't want to go The house held all that Jim and I had built together ‘Til be okay” I said ’ "There’s more to it than you” he replied "You’re five months pregnant Suppose the baby came early? There’s Debbie to think about too' You'll be better off at the base and when any news comes you’ll get it faster” I protested that I didn’t know anyone at the base How could I move in with strangers? '' "It's all arranged” he said “You’re to stay at Sergeant Kresge’s” Sergeant Kresge was on the ball team with Jim Ihad mVt him a few times I had never met his wife I looked at Deborah Without understanding' what had happened she had sensed this alien feeling that had come into her home It would be better for her elsewhere "111 go” I said I gathered up the few tilings we would need for the night The sergeant said we could come out the next day to get anything else we needed Margaret Kresge welcomed us as if she had known us all her life An only child she had never been around babies very much Stanley their son "was four months old and teething We talked babies We fed babies We washed babies I kept as busy as ' I could Arid I waited For 10 days there was no news Then on Saturday morning as I was dressing Debbie Captain Tarbucks came to the house with a medical officer They said Russia had found the plane and reported all aboard dead Stll holding Debbie I walked into the bedroom and ‘collapsed on the bed I had never let myself cry before now I couldn't stop There was no hope after alL My husband was dead -- - |
