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AW2 Claude Marshall Cantrell, Jr.
VP-11 P-3B
BUNO: 153428
4/5/56-12/11/77
Hometown: Melbourne, FL |
Aircraft LE-08 crashed into the Canary Islands on a tactical mission launched from Lajes, Azores. Claude is buried in the Oak Hill Cemetary, Cartersville, GA.
Shipmates Comments:
Hal Chase:
Had lots of good times with Marshall while I was in VP-11 from 75 - 76
(Rota-Lajes and Bermuda-Lajes split deployments).
If I had stayed on active duty, Crew 6 was my next assignment (scary
thought).
When I heard about the crash in Brunswick, it was before names were
released. I closed my eyes wondering which crew went down and a huge "6"
showed up in my brain. I freaked out. We found out three days later that
CAC-6 was the crew.
As I remember, the Mishap report concerning the crash was many pages in
length, and very ugly against the crew.
Steve Higgins:
Marsh Cantrell was one of my best friends in the
squadron, and I was allowed to escort his body
home. He was just an excellent guy who loved
life, music, surfing. No matter what was going
on, he seemed to enjoy himself. I recall when we
shared an apartment on Orr's Island we used to
take target practice with his bb gun in the
living room! We only broke one window, and it was
only one of a double pane, so we didn't feel too
bad about it. Our next door neighbor, Tigger
Orr, was a very precocious 5 year old who used to
come over all the time. Marsh hooked him up with
Bob Segar and the Silver Bullett Band, with
headphones - and Tigger loved it!
Media Articles:
Navy crash shocks base; probe will begin today
Brunswick Times Record December 12, 1977:
By Catherine Wilson
BRUNSWICK--Members of Patrol Squadron 11 stationed in Rota, Spain, were scheduled to begin an investigation today into the crash of a Brunswick Naval Air Station plane on a foggy Canary Islands mountainside Sunday.
The P-3 Orion, on deployment from the air station here, crashed into a 4,200-foot wooded slope killing all 13 Navy personnel aboard. All local families were notified of the deaths today.
"A sense of sadness has fallen over the base this morning," according to Whitney Parrish, the base chaplain. A brief notice that confirmed the fatal plane crash was distributed at the base yesterday but no further details have been made available.
The cause of the crash is not known. The Navy said the crash occurred at about 11 a.m. EST, although officials said that has not been firmly established.
Members of other patrol squadrons stationed here said they were anxious to learn the names of those killed in the accident but as one officer put it, "It is paramount that the next of kin be notified."
All calls about the crash were referred to the Navy's public information office in Norfolk, Va.
"Most everybody here is in a state of shock," Rear Admiral Ralph R. Hedges said. Hedges commands over a dozen operational squadrons deployed at stations here and abroad.
"From the point of view of morale, we're all professionals and we all realize we have a strong safety program....Our full orientation now will be toward assuring this never happens again."
"Obviously, everyone feels it is a very tragic thing, especially at this time of the year," Capt. George D. Barker, commanding officer at the base, said this morning. This occurence of the accident so close to the Christmas holidays makes it an even more saddening time," he said.
"We're shocked and saddened," said Capt. Edward A. Wilkinson Jr, commander of the base's six squadrons. "These are the people we fly with and work with. As in all things of this sort, you try to press on as best you can."
VP 11 is composed of about 390 enlisted men and almost 70 officers who were deployed to Rota, Spain and Lajes Air Force Base in the Portuguese Azores Islands in mid-October for six months.
The four-engine turboprop plane was on a routine submarine surveillance mission Sunday afternoon flying under a 3,000 foot ceiling when the crash occurred on the smallest of the Spanish Canary Islands, Hierro, off the coast of North Africa.
The Spanish national news agency, Cifra, reported the aircraft was flying at an altitude of 1,200 feet on an island with 4,200 foot peaks. Thirteen bodies were recovered by police aided by soldiers and local residents who searched through debris that was scattered for more than 2,000 feet.
United Press International reported today that a police spokesman in Valverde, Hierro, said "The bodies were so badly burned and mutilated and the plane so smashed that it was difficult to identify where the plane came from. But from the boots and the uniforms and a piece of burned paper that said 'Florida' we decided they were Americans."
An Air Force C-130 turboprop transport stationed at Ramstein, Germany, was dispatched to Rota to carry the squadron's accident investigation team to the crash site.
The initial crash investigation is normally performed by members of the squadron and the team usually includes a safety officer, air frame specialist, power plant specialist, a medical officer and other specialized personnel, according to Cmdr. David E. Oleson, public affairs officer for the Naval Air Force Atlantic Fleet command in Norfolk, Va.
Early reports of the crash were relayed through Spanish authorities to Navy headquarters in Virginia. Oleson said the investigation team will pay special attention to recording equipment, transmissions made from the base's control tower, eye witness reports and flight plans to determine the cause of the crash.
Investigators will search for mechanical malfunctions, human error and other contributing factors like weather conditions and any possible language barriers which may have hindered the flight's operation, he explained.
UPI said police in Valverde said the first report of the disaster was from a resident who "thought a truck had fallen on the highway."
The Canary Islands are located off the northern curve of the bulge of Africa.
Police said the weather over Hierro was overcast, rainy and foggy at the time of the crash. They said it was unusual for a plane to fly over the island which has only a small landing strip, UPI said.
Victims of the Canary Island crash included: Lt. j.g. James Charles Ingles of Bellevue, Wash.; Lt. j.g. Kirk Broadman Williams of Horsehead, N.Y.; Lt. j.g. Michael Jay Rowe of Chicago, Illinois; Lt. j.g. John Robert Williamson III of Pensacola, Fla.; Lt. j.g. Francis Xavier McKeone of Newark, Del.; and Chief Petty Officer Wayne David Westland of Leavenworth, Kan.
Also Petty Officer 2nd Class Wayne Thomas Kiess of Phoenix, Ariz.; Petty Officer 1st Class Fred Woodal of Rockwood, Tenn.; Petty Officer 3rd Class Bobbie Dale Payne of Fredericksburg, Texas; Petty Officer 3rd Class Michael Barry James of Coryeon, Ind.; Petty Officer 2nd Class Marvin Lee Brown of Key West Monroe, Fla.; Petty Officer 2nd Class Garold Lee Nesbitt of Boise, Idaho; and Petty Officer 2nd Class Claude Marshal Cantrell Jr. of Melbourne, Fla.
Service for airmen set today
Brunswick Times Record December 13, 1977:
BRUNSWICK--Memorial services for the 13 Brunswick Naval Air Station flyers who died in a fiery airplane crash Sunday in the Spanish Canary Islands were to be held this afternoon at the base chapel.
Three chaplains, Cmdr. Whitney Parrish, Lt. Cmdr. Roy Baxter, and Lt. Cmdr. Robert Barsch were to conduct the ceremonies.
Navy officials have released no further details about the crash, and the cause is still unexplained.
A P-3 Orion carrying 13 military personnel from Patrol Squadron 11 crashed into a 4,200-foot wooded mountain peak killing all aboard.
A Lockheed technical representative siad the P-3 line of turboprop planes has an "extraordinary" safety record on the mileage recorded by the aircraft outside of those lost in Vietnam.
The 13 bodies will be returned by air to destinations specified by the next of kin this week, a Navy spokesman said.
The crew was on a six-month deployment to Rota, Spain, and Lajes Air Force Base in the Portuguese Azore Islands. The plane was on a routine submarine surveillance flight when it crashed and disintegrated on impact Sunday afternoon.
An accident investigation team from VP-11 arrived on Hierro, the island where the crash occurred, yesterday and was to begin its study of the crash.
Air base mourns crash victims
Brunswick Times Record December 14, 1977:
By Catherine Wilson
BRUNSWICK--The occasion was a sad and solemn one.
Several widows, children and friends of the 13 servicemen who died Sunday in a Canary Islands plane crash gathered for mutual support Tuesday afternoon at a memorial service in the Brunswick Naval Air Station chapel.
The sounds of hymns and remarks of chaplains and commanders seemed to hang in the air above a capacity congregation of 525 mourners.
All was overwhelmingly quiet before the brief service began.
Most people remained composed until the conclusion of the 35-minute ceremony when the Navy Hymn was sung and Taps were played. Members of the honor guard wiped their eyes as they held their flags. Several older widows and many children were most visibly shaken and many cried openly.
Others bowed their heads as Chaplain Whitney W. Parrish read, "We pray for those whose tears are not yet dry; who listen for familiar voices and look for still familiar faces.
"Comfort those who sorrow, O God," the congregation responded.
Hymns like "Mine Eyes Have Seen the Glory" and "The Day of Resurrection" were sung by those in attendance including many officers, their wives and 11 off-duty Bath police officers and cadets. One of the victims had worked for several years as a special police officer in Bath.
Almost the entire patrol squadron that lost one of its crews over the weekend is stationed overseas at Spanish or Portuguese bases. Arrangements for transporting the bodies of the five officers and eight enlisted men who died in the crash into an island mountainside are not yet complete.
Chaplains Roy A. Baxter and Parrish are expected to officiate at funeral services for two flyers this week. Funerals for the other victims wiil be held all over the country in their home towns.
The names of the dead were recited at the opening of the ecumenical service--a final confimation of their passing. A young boy took his place in a pew reserved for survivors wearing an oversized VP-11 baseball cap before the congregation prayed aloud for pardon and illumination.
A barren altar was flanked by bouquets of red, white, and blue carnations and two candelabra holding a single white light.
Three chaplains wore black robes trimmed in red as they attempted to console the bereaved with Biblical excerpts and sermons.
A four-member color guard carrying two flags and two rifles stood throughout the ceremony facing the audience and more than 50 people lined the aisles of the white-walled chapel as Chaplain Parrish read his memorial message.
"The reaching after immortality," he said, "has been the heart's deepest underlying roots in all the ages of mankind. This world, as wonderful as it is....nevertheless, is not enough."
He said he hoped the survivors were able to enjoy an understanding sorrow that allows people to accept "strokes of affliction in patience." Death, he said, was not "a great darkness, a dreamless and perpetual sleep," but instead "a change from darkness to light."
Because the bodies of the victims have not been sent to the families yet, they are experiencing prolonged grief and uncertainty, a chaplain said.
Gov. James B. Longley attended the service.