Memorial set for LV resident's father killed 53 years ago

Two days before Memorial Day, Las Vegas resident Charles Churchill is finding closure to his father's death 53 years ago.

On Nov. 3, 1944, during a mock battle training mission at Kingman Air Field in Kingman, Ariz., a B-17 and P-39 Airacobra collided 20,000 feet in the air sending fireballs crashing into the Arizona desert.

Fifteen people died, including Churchill's father, Army Air Force Pilot Elmo "Buddy" Churchill.

It was his last training mission as a gunnery student at Arizona's Kingman Army Air Field. He was scheduled to graduate the next day.

"His body arrived the day he was supposed to come home," his son said.

The military had picked up the majority of the wreckage long ago, but the exact location of the site was not in the accident report.

In 1996, Churchill's father's dogtags were found, along with other items from the crash, leading to the discovery of the crash site.

Churchill contacted the families of the victims and has arranged a memorial honoring the 15 servicemen of the 3018th Flexible Gunnery School who were killed.

The memorial will be at 1 p.m. Saturday at the Kingman Airport.

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