On Nov. 22, 1952, a military transport plane carrying 52 people crashed into an Alaskan glacier during a storm with reported 80-mph winds and low visibility. Among those killed was the father of Ron Huff, a former Santa Clarita Valley resident, who was just 3 years old at the time.
For more than 60 years, loved ones like Huff had no remains to grieve over or bury — until now.
The lost plane had been buried by an avalanche and was in rugged, mountainous terrain, making it near impossible to dig out.
According to a page on the U.S. Department of Defense website, an Alaska National Guard UH-60 Black Hawk crew was conducting routine training in 2012 and spotted aircraft wreckage on Colony Glacier. After recovery operations, they were able confirm debris from the Air Force C-124 that crashed six decades earlier with 42 airmen, eight soldiers, one Marine and one sailor on board.
Huff said his dad’s remains were recently recovered and brought to him in July.
“This was a very treacherous glacier that’s only accessible one time a year — and that’s in June,” Huff said during a recent telephone interview. “So, every June they’d go in there trying to recover bodies and remains.”
On Aug. 1, Huff, who’s currently a Las Vegas resident, came out to Los Angeles with his son and sister to see the remains of his dad, Edward Schnore, finally placed in the cemetery next to Huff’s mom at the Los Angeles National Cemetery.
Schnore, who was a Los Angeles native, was a career Army man for 22 years and a World War II veteran. In July, Huff was presented with the military medals, dog tags and uniform his dad was wearing when his plane went down.
“The United States is great,” Huff said. “They retrieve the bodies no matter what. That’s a top priority, and that’s beautiful. I feel really good that his remains — his spirit — is brought back, and he can finally rest in the cemetery.”
The Aug. 1 service, Huff added, was a great tribute to his dad that offered closure to him and his family.
Huff was especially happy that his dad’s remains will now be near his mom’s remains.
“I know my mom — before she passed away, she was always wishing she could be at the same cemetery where he (Huff’s dad) had the plaque,” Huff said. “Not his remains, but the plaque was put up there. She (Huff’s mom) found out later that spouses are allowed in the veterans’ cemetery of the deceased. So, she was very happy to be placed there, and she would just be tickled pink if she knew his and her remains were in the same place now. It’s just gratifying to see all the pieces together, to be able to say, ‘OK, now you can close the book.’ It was a beautiful thing.”
