Touching the Ancient One

December 27, 2007

In October, I provided readers of this journal with a link for downloading the article “Rediscovering the Past and Shaping the Future,” which is about David West-Watson, son of William Ronald West-Watson, the British military officer and physician who died in the 1954 C-47 crash that I survived along with five others. Now, there’s another download about the West-Watsons, but first I have to tell a little back-story.

David was four when his father was killed. He grew up not knowing there were survivors of the crash. In 2005 he stumbled onto a web site that had a picture of a memorial plaque with his father’s name on it. The survivors’ names are also on the plaque and, because of that, he was able to find me. David and Anne, his wife, attended our survivor group reunion that summer in Cincinnati. They also traveled to Alaska and climbed to the crash site. Finding his father’s grave at Fort Richardson was an emotional, but satisfying experience.

This fall, David and Anne came visiting from their home in Wales. They were in upstate New York with Millie and I for four wonderful days. From here they went to Elkader, Iowa to spend Thanksgiving with Ed and Ruth Olson. Ed is also one of the survivors of the crash. Then, they moved on to Ohio to be with Keith and Jan Betscher for several days before returning home.

While they were in Elkader, Reporter Bryce Durbin did an article for the Clayton County Register. Mr. Durbin has given permission to offer the article as a PDF file for private use. It’s an interesting and well-written article. You can download RegisterArticle-West-Watson.pdf, here, or from Downloads in the sidebar.