HomeMy WebLinkAboutgravesIthaca Officer Killed
In Bomber Crash
LIEUT. RALPH GRAVES
can Starts
it Training
Second Lieut. Ralph Graves, 22.
son of William C. 'Graves of 316
Pleasant St., was killed Thursday
when the two -motored Army bomb-
er he was piloting on coastal patrc
duty crashed into Chesapeake Bay,
about 50 miles north of Langley
Field, Va.
Also killed in the same accident
were Technical Sergeant Norman
G. Simmons, about 33, Marchester,
N. H., and Staff 'Sergeant Julius
Young, about 28, Venice, Calif.
Langley Field officials said that
neither the plane nor the bodies
had been recovered, but that the
search would be continued. Crash
boats were dispatched to the scene
from the flying field.
Lieutenant Graves, a graduate of
Ithaca High School in 1936, entered
the Army with a Board 495 con-
; tingent on Feb. 19, 1941. Just a
year ago today he obtained his hon
orable discharge from .Fort Mon-
mouth, N. J., to enlist in the Air
Corps. He reported at Darr Area
Tech, Albany, Ga., for training on
May 1, He also took pilot training
at the Savannah, Ga., Air Base and
at Turner Field, Albany, Ga., before
receiving his wings and lieutenant's
commission at the latter field last
December. He was employed by
the New York State Electric &
Gas Corp, here before he joined
the Army.
The Ithacan was stationed at a
New Hampshire air base from
where he patrolled the coast as far
south as Virginia. He was in Ith-
aca last week to visit his father,
and his brother, Gorman W.
Graves, 308 Pleasant St., an em-
ploye of The Journal circulation
department. Lieutenant Graves has
another brother, Paul, of 'Wash-
.ir:,;fon, T). C. , t
Tbp father received official word .
Thursday evening by telegram of
his son's death.
Ithacan Stationed
Al Marine Base