WCAX.COM Local Vermont News, Weather and Sports-Rescuers Remember Survivor of Camels Hump Crash

Rescuers Remember Survivor of Camels Hump Crash

Waterbury, Vermont - October 16, 2009

A marker and the shrill of a bagpipe pay homage to their deaths on a mountain marked by tragedy.

"It strikes me as one of the most amazing aviation disaster stories ever," said Brian Linder, of the Waterbury Historical Society.

Four planes have crashed on Camels Hump.

The worst happened 65 years ago to the day-- in 1944.

A U.S. Air Force bomber was on a routine mission over Vermont when it crashed into the side of the mountain with 10 crewmen onboard.

"There were bodies all over the place from what I understand," Richard Izor said.

It took two days for search crews to find the crash site.

Nine of the men died on impact.

"It was an extremely gruesome scene," Linder said.

The lone survivor-- 18-year-old Jimmy Wilson-- was discovered by five teenage boys who had been pulled out of school to help with the search.

"We were hollering, hello! Hello! Hello! And then, all of a sudden, we heard a voice," Rolland Lafayette recalled.

"He was very close to death when they found him," Linder said. "He was incoherent and hypothermic. He was suffering from frostbite. He was dehydrated. He would never have survived that night had they not found him and taken care of him."

"He'd been exposed to the cold for two days and his hands and feet were both frozen." said Izor, who helped save the man.

The boys were all members of the Civil Air Patrol.

Despite their limited experience they wrapped Wilson in broken parachutes and canvas engine covers to keep him warm, built a lean-to and collected melted snow for water.

One of the boys even held Wilson through the night to keep him alive.

"He was in a sense attached to Jimmy Wilson so that body heat would transfer and help him," Lafayette explained.

Wilson ultimately lost his hands and feet due to frostbite but he survived thanks to the five cadets. Cadets who were among the many honored today for their heroic efforts 65 years ago.

"Well, it's an experience that I won't ever forget, I know that," Izor said.

Keagan Harsha - WCAX News