Victims of Kewanna plane crash 81 years ago remembered

victims-of-kewanna-plane-crash-81-years-ago-remembered

It's been 81 years since a naval training plane crashed into a field on the west edge of Kewanna, killing the two cadets onboard. 

It was at the height of World War II. The airplane crash took place on May 14, 1943, and was only the second to occur in Fulton County. In February of 1942, three men were killed when a bombing plane from Baer Field, Fort Wayne, crashed northeast of Rochester. 

Grissom Air Force Base had been officially established in July of 1942. It was then known as the Bunker Hill Naval Air Station. The base was one of 24 stations constructed throughout the US between 1942-1943. 

Bunker Hill Naval Air Station remained an active naval training site for both the United States and British Royal Navy pilot training activities throughout World War II. In just a few short years, thousands of pilots would be trained for the Navy, Marines and Coast Guard, gearing soldiers up for war. 

The News-Sentinel had reported that the plane circled over the Kewanna community a number of times, attracting the attention of residents from the area. Onlookers claimed the plane had been in 'obvious distress' before it made its crash landing in a field located a quarter of a mile west of Kewanna. 

Local farmer Jack Wilson was operating a tractor in his father's field just 12 or 15 feet from where the plane crashed. Although the aircraft did not explode, the attempted forced landing had buried it into the soft ground of the field. I was  almost completely demolished. 

It was reported that hundreds of people were instantly attracted to the scene of the accident. The Fulton County Sheriff's Department, Indiana State Police, and officials from the Peru Naval Training Station were immediately notified. The names of the two men killed in the plane were not made available until naval officials notified the next of kin. 

Identification of the victims, whose bodies were badly mangled by impact of the crash, were made by 2:30 that afternoon. The names were released for publication by Naval Training Station authorities. It was noted that one of the two youths killed in the Kewanna airplane crash was E.A. Hardin, 41, of Kewanna, a machinists mate second class. He was the son of Frank and Effie Hardin of Kewanna, and had just visited his parents in his hometown the Wednesday before the deadly crash. 

Hardin, had been well known in the Kewanna community. He operated a garage and filling station with his father prior to his entrance into the navy on Sept. 15, 1942.

It was reported that military funeral services for Hardin were made on May 17, 1943, and attracted a large crowd. He was buried at the Kewanna I.O.O.F Cemetery. 

Also killed that day was Aviation Cadet Lewis W. Strahley, III, 22, of Drexel Hill, Pa. 

A Facebook post made by Upper Darby's Hometown Heroes memorialized Strahley. It told of his own family's tragedies following the deadly Kewanna crash. 

The post stated that nearly a decade later, Strahley's younger brother, Charles, was killed in the Korean War. Their father, LT Lewis William Strahley, Jr. had served in World War I, but sadly took his own life with a .44 caliber on his patio in San Diego, CA. 

Strahley's mother is said to have lived to the age of 99, passing away in 1996.