"ONE OF MY MISSILES HAS FIRED!"

Air Classics, Aug 2004 by De Hare, Robert L

People were stranded in cars all down the mountainside. The only thing that could move in the gumbo was a Weasel driven by CMSgt. James Allbrooks of Kirtland, guided by Kirtland civilian employee Eddie Alien and State policeman Woodard. all through the night these men moved up the mountain picking up people, packing them in the Weasel, and moving on. They were forced to leave five men inside a big box on the back of an Air Force pickup. The five reported later, "It was like a refrigerator... even had ice on the inside... but it kept us out of the wind."

At one of the line cabins, there were more than 40 people isolated in an area that would nonnally accommodate eight. More people sought shelter at the Lee Ranch. Someone there mentioned the dangers to searchers and possible survivors from the cyanide pellet traps. The traps fired cyanide pellets into anything that touched them, but no one wanted to talk about that. The blizzard was the problem of the moment.

At the crash site, as the front moved through, the wind increased and finally tore the tent pegs completely out of the ground, leaving the one side exposed to the lash of the blizzard. Almost frozen into chunks of ice by the driving sleet, the men huddled together for protection, but at 0530 realized that they couldn't hold out any longer. One of the patrolmen signaled frantically on a small portable transmitter for help.

About two hours later, the Weasel reached the crash site. At first the rescue team thought the men in the tent were dead. Their eyes were iced shut and at least one man was only semi-conscious. The rescuers had their own problems, however. The exhaust pipe of the Weasel had been ruptured by a rock. Patrolman Woodard, who had returned to the scene aboard the Weasel, was near exhaustion when an H-21 helicopter first reached the search party in the morning. He refused to leave until he knew all were safe. As they waited the storm out, the large party at Lee Ranch was served hot meals by Mrs. Lee. She prepared some 250 meals during the search. Mr. Lee offered the parties ranch horses and vehicles. When the rescue cars ran out of gas he provided more.

When Saturday dawned, it became apparent that there would be little air search during the day because of continuing snow and low ceiling. No one in the search parties really believed that anyone else could have lived through the storm but the ground searchers plodded on through the day as best they could, although to no avail.

By Sunday morning, the cold front had passed and clearing skies followed. Early in the day, a medical officer was able to identify the bodies of Lt. Bair, the Electronics Warfare Officer, and Capt. Carter, one of the navigators. He also believed a third body to be that of Capt. Gineris, the second navigator.

Aircrew briefing for the renewed search took place at 0400 at Kirtland. The aircraft were airborne at daybreak. At about 0700, after a fruitless and discouraging search, an excited airman flying along on Capt. Jack Patterson's H-21 shouted over the intercom, "Here's a guy right in front of us, right now, waving his crutch at us!"