Relatives of a pilot killed in a crash in the Oquirrh Mountains during World War II are amazed that 55 years passed before his plane was removed from the mountains.
"I think it's wonderful" that the wreckage will be restored, said Helen Desjardins-MacKay of Wakefield, Mass., niece of pilot Lt. Kenneth C. Desjardins. The removal of the wreckage last week brings a sense of closure, she said."It's unbelievable" that the wreckage is just now getting removed, said Charles Desjardins of Beverly, Mass. He and two sisters are the only surviving siblings of Lt. Desjardins.
Last Wednesday, Air Force, Utah National Guard and Kennecott crews removed much of his brother's Shrike dive-bomber, which crashed on Sept. 18, 1944. The plane was one of two that slammed into the end of Black Rock Canyon, a box canyon, during the same training flight.
Their twisted wreckage remained undisturbed until this year.
Three Army Air Corps bombers were flown by Marine Corps aviators from El Toro Marine Corps Base in California. They had landed at Hill Field (later Hill Air Force Base), refueled, and were on their way back to California when they were caught in a storm above the Oquirrhs.
Only one managed to escape. The others crashed and burned, killing their two-man crews. The bodies were recovered soon after the disaster.
The plane that crashed higher on the mountain carried Desjardins, of Salem, Mass., and gunner John W. Dobrowlski of Nashua, N.H. In the other were pilot Lt. John Rice of North Abington, Mass., and gunner Sgt. Thomas B. Marsh.
Because of the wishes of the Air Force to restore a Shrike dive-bomber, officials recently decided to salvage the wreckage. They took wings, a propeller and part of the tail assembly from Desjardins and Dobrowlski's plane.
Giving the project extra urgency was the fact that over the Memorial Day weekend, vandals got to the wreckage and took a machine gun and a piece of fuselage that was painted with a battle insignia. Kennecott security guards caught them as they tried to leave the company's property.
The vandalized material and the wreckage removed last week were taken to Hill en route to Wright-Patterson Air Force Base near Dayton, Ohio, where a Shrike was to be restored. According to officials, no other examples of Shrikes remain. (The plane was the Army Air Corps version of the Navy's Helldiver. The Army Air Corps later became the Air Force.)
Charles was about 16 when the crash claimed his brother. Helen Desjardins-MacKay wasn't born until several years after the accident.
"He was a nice brother," Charles Desjardins said. "I never got to see him too much when he was a little older. . . . He was very nice, every time he was home."
Kenneth Desjardins had been in the Sea Scouts, a group of Explorer Scouts. He built a large mast for a sailing boat.
"He loved to speed-skate, too," his brother added. The Marine man had been engaged and was planning to marry his fiance on his next visit home.
Instead, he was killed in the training flight.
"The Navy had a fellow come home with the body," Charles Desjardins recalled.
Kenneth Desjardins had complained about the heat in California, writing home that he would love to see a nice, old-fashioned thunderstorm.
"Well, that's what hit, I guess, a thunderstorm," Charles Desjardins said. Military officers told the family that the thunderstorm over the Oquirrh Mountains cut visibility and the mountain's heavy mineral content interfered with their instruments, so the fliers did not realize they were so close to the ground.
Helen Desjardins-MacKay said the wake was held at her parent's home. Charles Desjardins was still carrying the obituary in his wallet, she said.
"My Uncle Kenny was very athletic," according to family stories. "He belonged to the Boston Skating Club. He was a speed-skater."
Lt. Rice and Lt. Desjardins were roommates, she said. She never realized until this week that their wrecks remained on the Oquirrh Mountains.
"I would go to my grandmother's house and she would have Kenny's picture up on the wall," she recalled.
"My uncle had just celebrated his 22nd birthday" the day before the crash, she added.