Flight 349 survivor to host memorial
The tentative list of speakers includes Frank McCue, the doctor-in-training who wrenched the injured man's hip back in place, Ann Mallek, the supervisor of the district where the plane went down, and the Reverend Jewell-Ann Parton who may talk about salvation amid horrific circumstances.
"It's starting to come together right well," says Ernest Philip "Phil" Bradley, who survived the crash of Piedmont Airlines Flight 349, which hit a slope of Bucks Elbow Mountain 50 years ago.
Ten years ago, Bradley, now 83 and living in Monroe, North Carolina, honored his flight-mates who died on October 30, 1959 by creating a granite memorial in Albemarle's Mint Springs Valley Park. At 10am Halloween Saturday, he'll return to hold another ceremony to commemorate the disaster's 50th anniversary.
In other commemoration activity, Bradley will be the 5pm phone-in guest on the WINA AM 1070 radio program hosted by Coy Barefoot on Wednesday, October 14.
–Bradley photo by Jen Fariello
1 comment
Mr. Bradley is to be commended for the wonderful gift of this memorial. This will always serve as a way to remember the lives of those who died that fateful October night, and will serve as a place, generations of family members can return to. When those we love die, we die too, but for them we also live on, so that their lives can be remembered.