The Katy-Did Crash
The story of a tragic crash of a B-26 Martin Marauder bomber in Rural Alabama, the lives of those who were on board and the discovery of the accident site nearly 70 years later.
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Researched and Writen by:
AGenealogyLady AKA Michele Jackson With contributing information collected from: Hartselle Enquirer & Dr. Herman Stringer Lee Youngblood Greene Jr. Mrs. Ellen "Cookie" Matthews Hannah & Kathy Wilder |
"There are two things that make a man, his creed and his deeds. We all have both. Some emphasize their creed, others are better known by their deeds. Yet the two are inseparable, for no creed is good that is not proved by deed, and every deed bespeaks the creed that underlies it. Greatness arrives in a man who knows his creed, and then gives himself to translating it into deeds."
~ Chaplin Howard P. Horn Eulogy for the service of Col. Lucius B Manning. 11 Apr. 1944 Chapel #2, Hunter Field, Savannah, Georgia
~ Chaplin Howard P. Horn Eulogy for the service of Col. Lucius B Manning. 11 Apr. 1944 Chapel #2, Hunter Field, Savannah, Georgia
The Katy-Did was a Martin B-26C-20 MO Marauder Medium Bomber. In a letter written to one of the families from a fellow airman after the crash, it was said that the plane was a "Beautiful, modified bomber" converted by removing all the machine guns and was used for administrative flights between Hunter Army Air Field (HAAF) and jump-off points for dispatch overseas. It's Tail Number/ Serial Number was #41-35142. (1)
This is a map generated by the Weather Service at 2:30 AM on April 9th, 1944. That day, according to newspaper reports, an Air Base in Arkansas had been heavily damaged by a tornado. The dark spots on the map indicates clouds. (9) Easter Sunday - April 9, 1944; HAAF Savannah, Georgia: Around 1:30 pm Eastern time at HAAF, recently appointed Base Commander Col. Lucius Bass Manning and 7 other airmen depart HAAF for Memphis, Tennessee and then onward to Kansas City. (2) Prior to that flight leaving, 1st Lieut. Hugh Lee Williams finds out that Post Engineer, a Major, can not make the trip and has been told he can catch a ride to Memphis and try to get a connection on to McGehee, Arkansas to see his 6th month old baby girl for the first time. He departs the barracks quickly without taking with him a little pin for his daughter that a fellow airman and friend gave him. This fellow airman (name not signed on the letter) who had left early that morning for sunrise Easter services at the flagpole, noted this pin when he returned and presumed he had left in a hurry. (2) About 2:15 pm Central time in rural Alabama, near what is locally known as Battleground Mountain, witnesses see and hear a plane enter a dark storm cloud with thunder and lightning then exit on it's back side, smoking and heading straight for the ground in distress. They feel and hear the impact as it clears a ridge and crashes into the ground. One witness sees what appears to be a parachute prior to the crash. (3) Back at HAAF, an inquiry is made from the Base Commander of "a small flying school in Courtland, Alabama" for the number and names of all on board a certain plane that crashed near there. Parts of seven bodies were found and one soul was missing. (2) The confirmed flight plan gives the names of 8 airmen on board the doomed Katy-Did. At Westover Boarding School in Middlebury, Connecticut a young girl is dressing for Easter Sunday Dinner when there is a knock on her door requesting she see the head mistress right away. She is told of the crash and that her father, and all on board perished. (4) Katherine Manning is escorted to a train bound for New York and placed on a flight to Savannah, Georgia where her mother and siblings await at their rental home near base and are surrounded by dignitaries of the Army Airforce, Aviation and Automobile industries in which Lou Manning played significant roles in. Eight memorial services are performed throughout the next day at the HAAF base chapel. Men are mourned. Families are devastated.
As it does, time moves along for the families, the witnesses to the crash and those who continued in service for their country. (5) Fast forward to 2013
Dr. Herman Stringer finds artifacts and metal fragments in a local field in southwest Morgan County, Alabama. He begins a plight to have the lives of these eight airmen honored and forever remembered in the community. He compiles a notebook of information about the crash and the victim's families along with witness statements. (6) May 2014 I receive a message from Lee Y. Greene telling me that much to their dismay they can not find much information on living relatives and are planning a ceremony which they would like to have relatives attend. Their hope is small, but they give me a little information that they've collected and some memorials posted on a popular genealogical grave database to see if there is anything I can find out. If you have ever met me, you will know how much I love researching things. I love family history, war history and well.... anything at all to do with history really and I saw this as a challenge. I had no idea the emotional connection I would feel to this story would be so great by the time I was done. Within 24 hours I had connected with the Great-Granddaughter of Col. Lucius B. Manning. Initially, I received a message from Hannah Wilder who was married to the Colonel's great granddaughter Kathy Wilder, immediately followed by a letter from Kathy. Over the next several days we exchanged numerous emails and information about the crash. Nearly 48 hours later I also made a connection with the daughter of 1st Lieut. Hugh Lee Williams - the infant daughter he never met. I learned about these two men through first hand stories told by the wives of these two men to their families and passed along to their children. Each had different stories to tell about how they coped with the losses and lived their lives afterwards. Because of these contacts, these stories, I am on a mission, as is Dr. Stringer, to find living relatives of all these men - to have their stories told, forever honored and remembered. Since the time this site was discovered by Dr. Stringer, locals have mowed and maintained an area with 8 memorial crosses in remembrance of these fallen heroes.
On August 16th, 2014, the town and people of Hartselle, Alabama, Morgan and Cullman Counties, Sons of Confederate Veterans and the VFW will hold a dedication for a national historical marker near the site of this tragic plane crash where the eight airmen perished. |
Learn More about Matthew J Geoghegan and his family here.
Other Airmen lost in crash: (Still Seeking Information) Radio Man, Pvt. John H Bailey Learn More Here |
There is one portion of the dedication that was not recorded. The address by Kathy Wilder. A malfunction (or maybe user error) missed this most important section. If anyone out there may have recorded this, Please message me, we'd love to include it here. My apologies to all about that error. The recording was an after-thought when at the event I realized we had neglected to get someone to come record the event.
In Loving memory of Dr. Herman Emery "Bounce" Stringer 1937 - 2014 Cullman Heritage Funeral Home The Cullman Times The Arab Tribune AL.Com Legendary Locals of Cullman County |
GUEST BOOK - PLEASE LEAVE A NOTE OF APPRECIATION OR MEMORY STORY
In many of the below newspaper clippings only 7 names are mentioned. Absent from most of the articles is Mechanic, Pvt. Matthew Geoghegan. The flight plan confirms his presence on the aircraft.
Footnotes:
1. Aviation Archaeology MARC Report
2. Letter to Judge Williams - provided by Ellen "Cookie" Matthews
3. Hartselle Enquirer - Research by Dr. Herman Stringer
4. Book by Katherine Manning Wallace: Lucius Bass Manning: Pioneer in Aviation and Automobiles - provided by Hannah & Kathy Wilder
5. Photos courtesy of Ellen "Cookie" Matthews.
6. Hartselle Enquirer - Research by Dr. Herman Stringer. Photo published by Hartselle Enquirer/Cliff Knight courtesy of Dr. Herman Stringer.
7. Newspapers.com - (most of the clippings came from this source.)
8. Charyleen- fellow researcher and distant relative of John W Haney contributed his obituary with image.
9. Weather map provided by Chief Meteorologist Jason Simpson. CBM - WHNT News 19 - Huntsville, AL.
10. Lt. Col Jim Boyles Images provided for James R Smith.
11. Chris Volz Hatfield Images provided for Howard Lawrence Hardy.
12. James Geoghegan Images provided for Matthew J Geoghegan.
13. Jeff Sjostrom Images and information provided
Special Thanks:
For the continued support, advice and encouragement from a group of friends who are just as obsessed and addicted to the preservation of history and genealogical research as I am and have listened to me banter on about all of my research ideas, thoughts and projects for the past several years when family and friends were completely exhausted of my chatter about the non-living.
I love you guys!
For the continued support, advice and encouragement from a group of friends who are just as obsessed and addicted to the preservation of history and genealogical research as I am and have listened to me banter on about all of my research ideas, thoughts and projects for the past several years when family and friends were completely exhausted of my chatter about the non-living.
I love you guys!