A Nebraska family feels some closure today, remembering their army brother whose plane was lost more than 60 years ago.
"I just barely remember him, but I do remember the air force driving up to our house in Preston, and that's when we found out about it,” said Betty Massey.
She was only 8 and sister Patsy Mandery 4, when they lost their older brother 19-year-old Corporal Bernard Portrey during the Cold War.
"I was only 4, but he's still my brother,” said Mandery.
Corporal Portrey was one of 10 children born and raised in Preston, Nebraska. Dennis Portrey was 12 the day his brother left to join the army.
"My mothered hollered and cried and said to 'come back 'cuz I'll never see you again.' Well, that's what happened,” said Portrey.
In 1950, Corporal Portrey was in Elmendorf Air Force Base in Alaska. A last minute cancelation allowed him to get on a flight two days early that would lead him home.
It was thirty below when the military transport, a Douglas c-54 Skymaster, took off for Great Falls Air Force Base, Montana. Two hours into the flight, the plane made its last radio contact. Neither the plane nor its 44 passengers and crew were ever found.
“I just remember my dad going up to Alaska to get his stuff,” recalled Mandery.
Saturday, at the SAC Museum in front of a C-54, 67 years later, the remaining Portrey siblings received an Honor and Remember flag to commemorate their brother's sacrifice.
"Just too much. Overwhelming,” said the sisters.
With a long history of military service, the family couldn't be happier.
"Long overdue. Long overdue. I'm proud of all my brothers,” said Portrey.
"Just too much. Overwhelming,” said the sisters.
With a long history of military service, the family couldn't be happier.
"Long overdue. Long overdue. I'm proud of all my brothers,” said Portrey.
By: Jessica Ritchie
Betty Massey of Falls City (left) and Patsy Mandery of Greenwood, sisters of U.S. Army Cpl. Bernard Portrey, receive an Honor and Remember flag from William Jackson during a ceremony on Saturday at the Strategic Air Command & Aerospace Museum. The flag was sponsored by Spartan Nash.
MATT RYERSON, Journal Star
Crew: 1Lt Kyle E. McMichael (Instructor Pilot/Mission Commander), 1Lt Mike Tisik (Pilot), Maj Gerald F. Brittain (Copilot), 1Lt Joseph W. Metzler (Navigator), SSgt Clarence A. Gibson (Radio Operator), MSgt Clyde A. Streitman (Flight Engineer), TSgt Harry W. McConegley (Flight Engineer), SSgt Raymond H. Snow (Flight Engineer)
Passengers: TSgt Jack P. Faris, SSgt Robert Ahearn, SSgt Burnis T. Lively, SSgt Raymond G. Mangold, SSgt John J. McDonald, SSgt Clinton D. Tompkins, Sgt Ray L. Asel, Sgt Donald W. Dagl, Sgt Noel B. Jones, Sgt Roy F. Jones, Sgt Junior Lee Moore, Sgt Harold R. Noell, Sgt Tommy E. Rhoads, Sgt Julian C. Thomas, Cpl Albie P. Baughman, Cpl Jeff D. Johnson, Cpl Henry S. Kerehner, Cpl Raymond H. Motheny, Cpl Bernard (NMI) Portrey, Cpl Richard L. Suggs, Cpl Thomas J. Young, Pfc John A. Chalopka, Pfc Charles W. Cook, Pfc Billie C. Cummins, Pfc Francis D. Hofer, Pfc Herman L. Lawson, Pfc Loyd E. Lowry, Pfc Wilham W. Cranor, Pvt Robert M. Hiatt, Pvt Blake F. Maxwell, Pvt Robert J. Reitmeyer, Capt Frank E. Gregory, SSgt Jack E. Dickerson, Mr. Eldon V. Dolansky, Mrs. Joyce M. Espe, Victor E. Espe (infant)
On 26 January 1950, the Douglas C-54 Skymaster S/N 42-72469 disappeared going from Alaska to Montana, with 44 people aboard. The aircraft made its last radio contact two hours into its eight-hour flight. Despite one of the largest rescue efforts carried out by the US military, no trace of the aircraft has ever been found. It is considered one of the largest groups of American military personnel to ever go missing.
An hour after it failed to arrive in Montana, “Operation Mike”, named for aircraft commander First Lt. Kyle L. McMichael,[3] was launched, a search and rescue program combining as many as 85 American and Canadian planes, in addition to 7,000 personnel, searching 350,000 square miles of the Pacific Northwest.[4] The search was aided by the fact soldiers and equipment had already been ferried north for the upcoming Exercise Sweetbriar, a joint Canada-US war games scenario.[6] Continuance of the operation confounded searchers, giving many false positive reports of smoke signals, garbled communications and sightings of “survivors”.
On 30 January, a C-47, Air Force serial number 45-1015 from the 57th Fighter Wing, that had been participating in the search, stalled and crashed in the McClintoc mountains near Whitehorse. Its crew members were injured, but there were no fatalities. The pilot walked 13 km to the Alaska Highway and flagged down a truck to call in support for his 5–8 crewmates.[3][5][7]
On 2 February it was reported that two planes and two radio stations in the Yukon area had heard unintelligible radio signals but attempts to “fix” the position were fruitless. Likewise, an isolated settler had reported seeing a large plane over his cabin at Beaver Lake in interior of British Columbia located 500 miles south of the Yukon boundary-250 miles north of Vancouver and 200 miles west of the Alaska Highway air route.[8]
On 7 February, a C-47D, 45-1037, from Eielson Air Force Base employed on the search by the 5010th Wing, crashed on a mountain slope south of Aisihik Lake. There were ten crew on board, but there were no fatalities.[9] On 16 February, a Royal Canadian Air Force C-47, KJ-936, crashed near Snag. Again, its four crew members sustained only light injuries.[10] Later its wreckage would be temporarily mistaken for the missing C-54.[11]
The operation was indefinitely suspended on 14 February, as the search planes were needed to investigate the crash of a B-36 that had been carrying, and had dropped, a Fat Man type nuclear weapon, though the core of the weapon in this case was lead.[4]