THE UNKNOWN FATE OF 3 CAPE COD

 

 

 

    In January of 1954, the pilot of an American plane, "3 Cape Cod", sent out the distress message, "We need aid."  The plane and its 10-member crew disappeared a few short minutes later, and no plane wreckage was ever found.  Did the plane land with a fiery crash in the waters off the west coast of Korea, or did it crash on a hill in central Korea as the result of "friendly fire" from an American Douglas Skyraider?  Because of discrepancies in official accident reports, missing messages from log books, and lost government document boxes, some family members believe that they have not been told the whole truth about the plane’s disappearance.  More on the story of 3 Cape Cod will soon be published on the Korean War Educator website.  Until then, learn about this downed American plane and its crew on the website http://www.3capecod.com/.  That website was created by Satch Beasley of Nashville, Tennessee, son of USN Lieutenant Jesse Beasley.  Satch, who was eight years old when his family received the news that 3 Cape Cod did not return from its listening mission off the coast of China, has never given up his quest for the truth about his father’s disappearance.  He tells us that his career decision to become a commercial pilot was based in part on his desire to gain some kind of understanding about his father’s fate and that of the other devoted Americans serving on 3 Cape Cod. 

 

    View these pictures of the ten crew members whose families never saw them alive again.  Left to right, top row, they are:  Chief Mechanic Robert George Archibald; Co-pilot Fredric Traynor Prael; and Mechanic James Frank Hand; second row: Navigator Paul Dominick Morelli; Navigator Stanley Burt Mulford; and radioman Bruce David Berger; bottom row: Radioman Rex Allen Claussen; Radarman Lloyd Bernard Rensink; and Ordinanceman Gordon Spicklemier. 

 

Remember them – and remember their families.

Never forget that freedom is not free.

In each and every war, human sacrifice is the price of liberty.