Reservists Who Died in Crash Honored
Hundreds turned out Saturday for a tear-filled ceremony to honor 10 Air Force reservists who were killed in a crash off the California coast last month.
Photographs of the victims were lined up on the podium at the Portland Air Base, and a HC-130P aircraft was parked nearby, a wreath of red roses hanging from its nose.
Dive teams will search the Pacific 40 miles off Point Mendocino, Calif., for the HC-130P Hercules that crashed Nov. 22 on a flight to San Diego. The crew reported mechanical problems 45 minutes before the plane vanished from radar, but the cause of the crash has not been determined.
The bodies of eight crew members have not been found, and the wreckage is believed to be in water nearly a mile deep.
The lone survivor of the crash, Tech. Sgt. Robert Vogel, was at the service. He discarded his crutches and climbed into the C-130, emerging a few minutes later nearly overcome by emotion.
“I could still see everybody sitting there at their positions, fighting to keep the airplane in the air, and nothing was working,” he said. “They tried and tried and tried and tried.
“That’s the first time I’ve been inside the aircraft. I wanted to say goodbye to my friends and get on with my life.”
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