WWII letter to the parents of a crewman lost in air combat training:
"He did not lay down his life upon the field of battle, but his sacrifice is the same. He was preparing himself to defend those liberties and principles which had been taught to him from his early youth and which were a part of his very being. This may be small consolation to you in your bereavement, but you may well be proud both of his life and of his death."
Friends of the Wyoming Veterans Memorial Museum
B-24J 42-100023, lost on Casper Mountain, WY, June 17, 1944, Zorn crew
Friends Ongoing Research
Yeoman Anna Majoros
Navy Yeoman 3rd Class Anna Majoros was killed on November 13, 1944, in the crash of a C-47 transport aircraft (41-7834) about two miles NW of Casper Army Air Base on a snowy night. A total of 11 passengers and crew were lost.
The C-47 cockpit crew included 1st Lt. Sig Owens (P) and 1st Lt. Ray Barnhill (CP). The flight destination was Gore Field, Montana.
In 2017, The Director of the Wyoming Veterans Memorial Museum requested the Friends research and discover the crash location and contact any living relatives of Anna. She was the only female ever killed in an accident involving CAAB.
Anna was stationed in Seattle, when she received a message that her brother, 33-year-old Corp. Joseph Majoros, had been killed with an Airborne Division in Holland. Anna flew back to attend her mother in Cleveland, Ohio on an emergency furlough.
On November 12, 1944, Anna caught a westbound army transport bound for Great Falls, MT. In Cheyenne, WY, the C-47 aircraft was diverted from Billings to CAAB due to weather. The CAAB tower wouldn't give Lt. Owens clearance to fly to Great Falls. On November 13, Lt. Owens received permission to get clearance for Billings from Wardwell Municipal Airport at Casper.
Something wasn't right, for the aircraft turned north immediately after takeoff, which is the opposite heading if the pilot was make an approach to Wardwell. Given the weather delays of the last couple days, he apparently decided to fly north directly to Billings and bypass Wardwell Field.
Having no ground references, the pilot became disoriented and struck the ground with the left wingtip, causing the plane to cartwheel. Weather was determined not to be a factor in the crash.
It's hard to imagine the level of grief experienced by Anna's parents, having lost two children in rapid succession in the war. Anna was survived by two brothers and a sister. Newspapers noted that the Majoros family replaced their second blue star with a gold after only a few days.
C-47 41-7834 Crash Images
Hand drawn schematic of the C-47 41-7834 crash site.
AAF accident report for C-47 41-7834.
AAF crash site photos of C-47 41-7834.
The crash site of C-47 41-7834 is in or near this area. The flat terrain is easy to traverse, once permission is acquired. The search area, however, is several square miles according to widely varying location reports. Moreover, after 80 years of surface impacts by grazing and ag activities, there's no guarantee that any wreckage may ever be found. The best hope is if a landowner knows of the debris field. And even then, it might not be Anna's plane.
Flight Officer Charles Yeager
357th Fighter Group, 363rd Fighter Squadron
On October 21, 1943, Flight Officer Charles "Chuck" Yeager bailed out of his P-39 42-19508 due to an engine fire. The aircraft was demolished, and Yeager was injured.
Friends has not yet began a ground search for the site. In a recent land acquisition, the U.S. Dept. of Interior acquired a large area of land in the crash site vicinity making access much easier.
The first task will be to contact landowners in the vicinity. That is expected to be done soon. As is typical of crash sites, the reported location of 20 miles SW of Casper is much too broad to be helpful in locating the site.
P-39 42-19508 Crash Images
The crash site of P-39 42-19508. The Allison V-12 engine is being loaded onto the flatbed trailer.