Schnecksville, PA Private Plane Crash, Aug 1953

EX-MAINE GOVERNOR DIES IN PLANE CRASH.

Allentown, Pa., Aug 3 (AP) -- A private plane fell apart and crashed into a wooded hillside yesterday, killing a former governor of Maine and two of his friends.
The dead were:
WILLIAM TUDOR GARDINER, 61, hero of a famous World War II exploit and Maine's chief executive from 1929 to 1932.
EDWARD E. CHASE, 60, of Cape Elizabeth, Maine, a state senator, investment broker and brother of author Mary Ellen Chase.
EDWIN S. BURT, 60, of South Portland, Maine, a Portland wholesale groceryman.
The three long-time friends were flying home in GARDINER'S plane after attending a reunion of the 56th Pioneer Infantry Association at Shamokin, Pa. They served with the group in World War I.
About 13 miles north of this eastern-central Pennsylvania city, the plane flying at 9,000 feet, fell apart. Rain and heavy clouds were reported in the area.
GARDINER, a colonel in World War II, won the Legion of Merit for exploits in Italy.
He was 51 when he and Gen. Maxwell D. Taylor, now commanding the 8th Army in Korea, made a daring and hazardous trip into German held Rome before American forces invaded Italy in 1943.
In full uniform, except for caps, they landed from a British submarine, motored to Rome and spent 20 hours under the Germans' noses in conferences with Marshal Pietro Badoglio. They gained a pledge of loyalty to the Allies and information that virtually affected the course of the war.

Nashua Telegraph New Hampshire 1953-08-03
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Researched and Transcribed by Stu Beitler. Thank you, Stu!