Smiley, TX Plane Crash, Aug 1945

SIX MEN KILLED IN PLANE CRASH.

Victoria, Aug. 9. (AP) -- Six Army men from Foster field were killed early today when a plane in which they were returning to the base here from a baseball game at Waco, Tex., crashed and burned in a wooded area 60 miles to the northwest.
Some of them were members of the Foster Army Air field baseball team, known as the Falcons. There were no survivors.
One of the dead was reported to be PETE ZARILLA, who once played with Elizabethton, Tenn., in the Appalachian League.
The scene of the crash was near Smiley, Gonzales County, slightly west of the direct course between Waco and Victoria.
R. E. Downey, publisher of the Smiley Tabloid, said the crash occurred about 3:30 a.m. in a thickly wooded draw. The plane, an AT-7, clipped tops from mesquite trees, then cut a swath 50 feet wide and 200 yards long before exploding.
The dead:
1st Lt. PETER R. DAVIS of New Orleans, veteran transport pilot with 1,500 hours to his credit, who last fall was temporarily assigned to fly the Randolph Field Ramblers football team over the nation.
Sgt. HERMAN LAWSON of Princeton, Tex., first baseman.
Cpl. LESTER CLOTIAUX, Catcher, of Nederland, Tex., who used to play in the Piedmont League.
1st Lt. HAROLD G. PHILLIPS of Toledo, O.
S/Sgt. CHESTER SEIPT, short stop, of Pasadena, Md.
Cpl. PETE ZARILLA of Newcastle, Pa., who once played with Elizabethton, Tenn., in the Appalachian League.

Morning Avalanche Lubbock Texas 1945-08-10

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Researched and Transcribed by Stu Beitler. Thank you, Stu!