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Show Nephew's Research Corrects 57-Year-Old Record Plane Crash MASCOUTAH, 111. -Kenneth E. Rogers, Jr., the nephew of Luther C. Francis, Jr., a passenger on the ill-fated United Air Lines Flight 608 which crashed in Bryce Canyon National Park in October 1947, submitted new documents to correct the historical records contained in the Bryce Canyon National Park archives regarding regard-ing the flight in which his uncle was killed. While researching his family genealogy, he recalled the family fami-ly stories related to him as a child by his grandmother and mother regarding his uncle's death in an airplane crash at Bryce Canyon shortly after he was born. Of course the childhood child-hood details became foggy over the years but he figured that there must be information available avail-able on the internet and elsewhere else-where regarding the tragic crash of United Air Lines Flight 608 thus began his search for information regarding his uncle's death. Rogers quickly found that information regarding the plane crash was scarce and difficult to find. He found limited information informa-tion online, including an official accident report, and a couple of articles from newspaper archives; however, one of the first online documents he found regarding the crash included the statement "Further detailed information on the Utah DC-6 Disaster can be obtained from '"Project Angels' - Nancy Boonstra" and listed her email address. He emailed Boonstra, who, it turns out, also lost family fami-ly on Flight 608. He told her of his interest in the crash and she immediately responded that she had thoroughly researched Flight 608 over a 10-year period and had archived the extensive research data at Bryce Canyon National Park. She searched her files for information on Luther C. Francis, Jr., and Rogers was stunned that she couldn't find his uncle's name on the passenger passen-ger list from newspaper articles and other records she had gathered. gath-ered. He obtained a newspaper article from the Washington Post archives describing the crash and listing two passengers with the last name of Francis from Washington, but with no first names listed. Eventually, he obtained an article from the i l I I ,. - i LJ Kenneth E. Rogers, Jr. local Annapolis newspaper, The Evening Capital, dated October 25, 1947, which accurately identified iden-tified Luther C. Francis, Jr. as a passenger and casualty of Flight 608. It became clear why researchers trying to locate and contact families who lost members mem-bers on the flight were unable to locate this family. According to Boonstra's records, there was a Francis listed on the flight, but it was "Bertha". The name was that of Luther's mother. Apparently the official records had confused the passenger's name (Luther) with the name of his next-of-kin, his mother Bertha. Rogers indicated that he was sure his grandmother Bertha never knew about this and she would certainly turn over in her grave if she knew. "You can see why it is important to the family to correct the records regarding this event," Rogers said. Boonstra and Rogers researched the information informa-tion regarding his uncle to verify veri-fy that he was in fact a passenger passen-ger on UAL Flight 608 as follows: fol-lows: his uncle's date of death was Oct. 24, 1947, same date as the crash of UAL Flight 608; the local newspaper article from his uncle's hometown confirmed con-firmed that he was a passenger on UAL Flight 608 and that United Air Lines officials had formally notified the family the evening of the crash; and the story of my uncle dying in a plane crash in Bryce Canyon, UT as conveyed to him by his mother and grandmother. (See CRASH on page 2A) BCNP Plane Crash From Front Page , Luther Cowart Francis, Jr. was born in Annapolis, Md., and was raised in Eastport, Md., at that time a small town across Spa Creek from Annapolis that was annexed into the city of Annapolis in 1951. His parents were Luther Cowart Francis, Sr. 1860-1940 and Bertha Bell Bright 1890-1959, both of Annapolis. His father was the Annapolis agent for the Tolchester Steamboat Company and his mother was a homemak-er. homemak-er. He had two sisters Lucille Cowart Francis Carraway 1917-1998 1917-1998 and Ethel Louise Francis Rogers 1919-1993, both of Annapolis; a half-sister Gertrude B. Eaton 1911-196?; and a half-brother Charles Horace Eaton 1909-1965. Luther C. Francis, Jr., had enlisted in US Navy on Dec. 2, 1944 and served as a Mail Clerk First Class until his death in the tragic plane crash on Oct. 24, 1947. He attended Annapolis High School and received his-diploma his-diploma in the spring of 1944, achieving scholastic achievements achieve-ments of such merit to earn the Harvard Award, even though he completed his studies while in Naval Service. He received his naval training at the U.S. Naval Training Center, Bainbridge, MD and served for 1 8 months at U.S. Naval installations on the Island of Guam before being - sent to Japan. His U.S. Navy service coming to an end, he. was returning home for honorable honor-able discharge and arrived on the west coast from Japan in early October 1947, ,He was unable to obtain reservations to travel east so he spent some time in San Diego, Calif., visiting his aunts Anne Blanche Bright (N.A.) Wicker and Sarah K. Bright (B. C). Robinson. He finally obtained reservations for the flight home on the ill-fated United Air LinesX Flight 608, Los Angeles, Calif., to New York City, N.Y., with a stopover at Chicago. This fatal flight, which caught fire and crashed near the rim of Bryce Canyon National Park, UT at 12:29 p.m. on Oct. 24, 1947, only 1,500 feet from the runway, was to be the final lap of his journey home from duty in Japan. In his luggage lug-gage were Christmas presents for family and friends at home. News of the tragedy, received from United Air Lines officials the evening of the crash, stunned relatives and friends at home, who had been anxiously awaiting him for two weeks. Luther Cowart Francis, Jr. is buried, at St. Anne's Cemetery, Annapolis, Md., in a small family fam-ily plot, where he has been joined by his mother and a sister, sis-ter, Ethel Louise Francis Rogers, who is Rogers' mother. His grave is marked by a stan-' stan-' dard white marble military-provided headstone. As a very young child, Rogers recalls his grandmother showing him his uncle's wallet with scorch marks from the terrible ter-rible fire and crash, and telling him about his uncle who he had never had the privilege to meet, ' since he was born several months before the plane crash while his uncle was still overseas. over-seas. Before Mr. Rogers' mother's moth-er's death, she gave him his uncle's U.S. Navy Identification Card, which was in his wallet at the time of his death, a copy of which he has provided along with a brief history for inclusion in the Bryce Canyon National Park archive documenting, the horrible tragedy of United Air Lines Flight 608. |