On January 14, 1943 he was on the Douglas C-54A Skytrain #41-32939 transport plane during a somewhat secretive mission from South America to Casablanca in North Africa. Onboard was a delegation flying to Morocco for a security conference. This aircraft was operated by TWA on behalf of the USAAF Air Transport Command.
They exploded and crashed in the jungles near Paramarino, Suriname, in what was then Dutch Guyana, on the west coast of South America.
Other aircraft in the area reported anti-aircraft fire coming from what appeared to be an enemy submarine. There were also rumors of a bomb on board. They found a screwdriver suspiciously lodged in the hatch containing the IFF radar detection system, but no trace of a bomb. What actually caused the explosion remains a mystery to this day.
There were 18 US service members and 17 civilians onboard and none survived.
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