Marion “Hap”HootenCaudle, died in a fatal plane crash four days after his 23rd birthday on a remote glacier in the icy mountainous region of Alaska. On November 22, 1952, he left the Air Force Base in California headed to the Air Force Base in Alaska on a transport Carrier C-124 Globemaster, and was six hours into flight when controllers lost contact with plane about 45 minutes before they were to land at their destination. Several hours later they were declared missing and all 52 passengers and crew members were lost! Search parties were unable to find any signs of the crash site until 2012 when JPAC was able to spot remains in a debris field on a remote glacier that was melting and moving.
At the time of the plane crash he was survived by mother, Mary Susan Caudle; step-father, G.B. Caudle; and sister, Maxene Hooten Lybrand. He is presently survived by nieces, Becky Elders, Suzi Adams and Jamie Aldridge.
Marion’s remains will be flown from Honolulu to Huntsville Airport where Honor Guard and family members will meet the plane. The procession will start to Sylacauga on October 24th from Laughlin Service Funeral Home.
A graveside service will be held on Friday, October 24, 2014 at 1:00 p.m. at the Evergreen Memorial Cemetery in Sylacauga, AL, which was his hometown. An Air Force chaplain will officiate, accompanied by Full Honor Guard. He will be laid to rest next to his mother where a marker with his picture was placed 62 years ago in his memory.
In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to Wounded Warriors Project. (www.woundedwarriorproject.org)
