I came accross your blog while googling my Grandfathter…Harold Kraner. He is the gentleman who died in this story. You stated this was rather comical, and my heart just sunk. My grandfathter was a great man. He set some of the first world records in parachuting for the US Army. He was a pioneer at a time when this was beyond a dangerous activity. On this fateful day his wife and 10 month old son (my dad) were watching. It was a bad jump due to wind issues, and the gear back then was so heavy it dragged him to the bottom of Boston Harbor. He had a big heart, and always a smile. He will forever be a hero for me. I hope you can see the scope of the tragedy, it was by no means comical. Some of the events that lead up to his rescue was fate. It was as if God decided that was his day to come home.
Holy crap. Thanks for the update!
He was actually a corporal, as reported in later papers. He had made over 100 previous jumps. They found his body two days after the tragedy. ACtually, the body was discovered by the pilot of the plane from which Kramer had jumped. The guy had continued to search for him over the two days. The cords of the parachute were tangled around his neck, suggesting he may have strangled. Sorry for the gruesome detail.
The boat which the two men grabbed to attempt a rescue was described in later papers as a skiff.
rachal67, thanks for coming in and giving us the rest of the story. Your grandfather sounds like a brave and heroic soldier, who was trying to bring some holiday joy to a crowd of children. Certainly this event was tragic.
The passage of time - and lack of personal connection - triggered the humorous response upthread, but we all respect your grandfather’s accomplishments.
I have nothing to offer about this particular story, but. . .
Something like this thread happened to me once. I had posted on a different board an uncomplimentary assessment of a child actor (former “Our Gang” member who died in the 90s). Two years later his daughter found that thread and posted, and, needless to say, she was not happy about what I had said about her dad.
Off! I read this as “100 year old children”!:D:confused:
Blog?
Indeed there is nothing funny about what happened. Even today, parachuting in 40mph winds is too dangerous except when the only alternative is riding the plane to a crash.
Airfields in 1937 were just that, fields. A 1/2 or 3/4 mile square or rectangle of more or less flat grass. Airplanes would decide on their own when and where and in what direction to land or take off. Vehicles would criss-cross the field at random. In some cases public roads crossed the field. No one was in charge or controlling anything.
In that environment, a collision between a landing airplane and vehicles rushing to the shore near where the jumper landed is all too plausible.
Resuce boats in 1937 were what we’d call today a bass boat. A small skiff with a flakey engine. Boston harbor in 40-mph winds would not be safe for that kid of boat. Swamping would be just a matter of time. All the more so if the boatmen weren’t experts, just 2 soldiers in a rush to do something.
It seems comedic only from the unthinking viewpoint of modern times. Were that to happen today we’d question how so much of our organization and investment in rescue technology went so far wrong. And rightly so. But applying modern expectations to 70+ year old sitautions is either thoughtless or ignorant.
And to follow up on **Zebra **& pbbth’s commentary about bad childhood memories, here’s a link to another old thread about Christmas-themed horrors. http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=499110.
Like this thread, that one is a couple years old, so the zombie rules ought to be in effect.