Page 231 - Adobe Photoshop PDF
P. 231

%LOO KDG ÀRZQ WR %HLUXW IRU WKH 7DSOLQH PHHWLQJ  7KH\ ZHUH UHWXUQLQJ
            E\ DLU LQ D FRPPHUFLDO ÀLJKW ZKHQ D VKDPDO EOHZ LQ DQG REVFXUHG WKH
            Dhahran airport. A shamal usually only carried the sand about 400 feet
            above the ground, but when it was blowing it was like a dense fog. The
            SODQH RQ ZKLFK 5DOSK DQG %LOO ZHUH À\LQJ URXWLQHO\ ÀHZ RXW RYHU WKH
            Persian Gulf and then was to head inland a couple of miles to land at
            the Dhahran airport. In this case, for unknown reasons, the plane hit the
            water and all aboard were killed. Neither Bill nor Ralph’s body were
            ever recovered. We wrote letters of condolence to the two widows. Both
            PHQ ZHUH UHDOO\ ¿QH DQG FDSDEOH PHQ DQG LW ZDV D ORVV WR WKH FRPSDQ\
            as well as to family and friends.

                   This loss reminded us of a couple of incidents that had occurred
            ZKHQ ZH OLYHG LQ $UDELD  $W WKDW WLPH  WKHUH ZDV D ZHHNO\ ÀLJKW IURP
            6DLJRQ E\ ./0 WKDW KDG D VWRS DW %DKUDLQ  2QH ZHHNO\ ÀLJKW ÀHZ LQWR
            Bahrain during a shamal and hit the water, killing all aboard. Incred-
            LEO\  WKH QH[W ZHHN¶V ÀLJKW IURP 6DLJRQ GLG H[DFWO\ WKH VDPH WKLQJ  $V ,
            UHÀHFWHG DERXW WKH ORVV RI 5DOSK 'HYHQQH\ DQG %LOO -HZHOO LQ WKH SODQH
            crash, the thought came back to me – had I stayed in Arabia the odds
            are that I would have been in the job Ralph had been promoted to. Had
            I risked Cindi’s health by staying in Arabia to satisfy my job ambitions
            I might have paid for doing so by dying in that aircraft crash.




























                                             227
   226   227   228   229   230   231   232   233   234   235   236