I was thinking about one of my neighbors growing up on N. Slocum Road. Bob was 8 years older than me, and a year older than my oldest brother, Tom. He graduated from Wayne in 1966.
I had just started my new job and heard about this on the radio, and recall exactly where I was that day in September 1976. He was not a crew member on this flight, just catching a ride to another base, as were many of the passengers. Another fatality on this flight was from Marion, NY. Bob had a young wife and children, was just getting started in life and probably was headed for a long career in the Air Force. I found this image of a memorial that someone has erected near the crash site at a remote area in eastern Michigan.
I’ll always remember him as the big brother of the neighborhood.