OCR Text |
Show ift "Ki fvv. C yi K. S;y tjk. ' yy.; sf m$ NEWS, Thursday, June 26, 1969 , c, : & . DESERET 'VH; 'f 1? A- - pit V ' L3u ' - cqjrar Oswald Simon PhO)J Sy Jim Robinson, Deseret News staff writer, nJ freelance photographer Boyd is moved from a copter on stretcher. Redingtc Closeup shows penetration of trees into one wing. Fuselage with six occupants kept going farther into forest. : IN CEDAR BREAKS AREA A Painful Crackup: Luck, Tragedy Continued from First Page hospital were the three survivors, David L. Watson. 44, --Oswald (Ozzie) Simon, 38, and Robert L. McCord Jr., 31. 1 The three deaths plunged 3the movie town of Kanab into a deep sadness, according ko a resident The victims worked for a movie produc-1io- n company that has filmed 5n the area for 15 years. All the men aboard the Jjlane were widely known in --Kanab. Z One of the first rescue volunteers to reach the crash -- scene was Charles Perkins, a Song-tim- e friend of the pilot. Perkins raced from the helicopter that dropped him to dearth to the crash scene. He aw immediately that his friend was killed. He turned, his face a picture of agony. Jim Skaggs, ('Snoth- e- rescuer from Kanab, put his arm around Perkins jor a second, then the two started the job of caring for 2the two survivors at the f Jcene. They helped a doctor set a fracture of IcCords leg. Compound , Did you bring any water? McCord asked. Skaggs said they had left Cedar City in such a hurry, they had neglected to bring water. McCord told the rescuers his thirst had triggered fantasies. I dreamed that a man from Madison Productions (the movie firm he works for) brought three bottles of water, here and set them on the wing. I reached for one of the bottles and it was gone. When the copter returned to Watson Cedar City with aboard, a woman, obviously the wife of one of the crashed planes six occupatits, pushed up to Skaggs. said I was afraid, Skaggs. I was afraid I would have to give her some bad news. Im Mrs. McCord, said Do you the have any news? I was so glad to tell her her husband was alive that I gave her a great big hug, said Skaggs. Mrs. McCord is assistant choreographer for the Carol pretty-woma- Burnett Show. The McCords have three sons. McCurds father also met Skaggs at the airport. He grinned broadly at the good news. When he reached the hospital, he wept. At Kanab, the news reached Death Valley Days the filming set in Production ceased. Everyone there knew the victims. Bury and McClean were the soun(j men for the company atl(j rCKje together on the Red Goose production. during The Red Goose is a sound truck. They were seated in the plane when it went down. At the hospital in Cedar City today, the three survi- vors were all aching pretty well, but happy. Im in love with these Utah people, chirped Watson from his bed. Theyre gieat. It gets you when you think that all those people cared enough to come out and find us and get us out of there. He has a broken back. The other two survivors have back injuries, cuts and fractures. Watson struck out to get side-by-si- . Aa. Injured arl removed from chopper eft Cedar City, taken to hospital. help after the plane crashed Sunday, but could get no fur- ther than six miles away in coun- the rocky, try. It's a miracle anybody got out of that plane alive, said Skaggs, after viewing the wreckage from the air. The fuselage was ripped open, the wings were snapped off, and the wreckage burned until Simon doused the flames with sand. Later, the survivors could find only three matches to start a fire at the cold, t level near Brian Head Ski Resort. That's funny, said Watson, I used to collect matchbooks. The men were the object of e search by an intense the Civil Air Patrol when they failed to return from a sightseeing flight over Zion, Bryce and Grand Canyons. Watson said Bury had a premonition about the light plane before taking it up. They had flown in the same plane to Las Vegas the weekend before, and the crafts brakes had failed. We rode back on a bus, Watson said. d 8,000-foo- two-stat- Ordeal, Says Victim Continued from First Page- Robert McCord relaxes in helicopter after plane crash ordeal. - I could see were the three guys in front. I knew they were dead. I was sure they were dead instantly, probably. Then I heard all this screaming from the guys in' the back seat. This one guy (Oswald Simon) seemed to get around pretty good. We got some sand and put out the fire. He started a fire, and then he passed out. I kept the fire going all night. The other man, (Robert L. McCord) was always scream-inHe stopped screaming, and I dont think he ever passed out. He kept screaming help me, do something. Then he (Simon) told me, since I was the only one who could walk, to go for help. He said, Go walk to the road up above us (there is no road within miles of the crash jrjr Jrw iSW V tffv Vi-4-. g. never site). Im happy to know there are people in the world so interested in other people. The men that found me just volunteered their services. Its just unbelievable. I'm sure happy to be alive. Vv liSH David L. Watson manages wan smile from Insult To Injury CEDAR CITY In addition to his broken back, sprained ankle, black eye and internal a injuries, David L. Watson survivor of Sundays plane crash near here had a new medical problem today. hospital bed. ... Got In Poison Ivy Its poison ivy, Im covered with it! Watson, his who he said. hiked away from the crash site in an effort to get help, said he got little sleep in his hospital bed here last night after being ' rescued. ' ' I itch, he said. Watson said he couldn't remember when he came ' in . contact with the vegetation that made him break out . |