Letters from the Globemaster Families
The Lost C-124 of Mount Gannett, Alaska
by
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20 December 1952
Dear Professor Moore,
[Paraphrased and shortened]
I am the wife of Captain Jerome H. Goebel, one of the passengers aboard the C-124 Globemaster which crashed.It is difficult to find words to express my deepest gratitude to you in finding this aircraft. Professor Moore, I am writing to you, in hopes you could write and tell me exactly what you found on Surprise Glacier. I have two children-Kristine, 2 ½ years old and Richard 2 ½ months old. Recognizing that you were there, I feel you could give me more information than the Air Force. The Air Force did not say if the plane exploded in flight or crashed into the mountain. I would like to know if it is possible that men could have parachuted out of the plane and if so could they have been successful even in the bad weather.
If you could find a few minutes to write me, I would be so grateful. Thank you ………..and God Bless you. Sincerely,
Anna A. Goebel
N. Ottawa Avenue
History is a medium consisting of so many different things; papers, reports, photographs, maps, letters, videos, statistics, manuals, and many others. When viewed collectively they can create a window into the past that we might re-live events, no matter how painful or private they seemed at the time. Sometimes we see things through that window that shock our senses by their brutal destructive nature or hurt us terribly even though we were not there. Sometimes we see things that seem so impossible we struggle to believe they could be true even though the facts shine in our faces like a beacon. Sometimes seeing those events unfold allow us to feel some of the hurt that others have felt. Sometimes we can see the beauty others have seen or feel the solace received for ultimately knowing what really happened, even if it was cruel and deadly. Let us open the window and look inside.
On 10 June 2012, Chief Warrant Officer Bryan Keese, an Alaska Army National Guard Blackhawk pilot describes sighting the wreckage on the Colony Glacier, Alaska during a routine training mission:
“When we initially found this thing it was a routine training flight. We noticed there was something on the glacier and went back……. We could tell it was an aircraft……of some kind. Then we saw the tire, and it was a pretty big tire, so we thought it was a pretty big plane.”
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About the Book
Letters from the Globemaster Families: The Lost C-124 of Mount Gannett, Alaska gathers evidence and presents the most likely description of the final flight of a United States Air Force troop transport plane carrying fifty-two servicemen. The Globemaster C-124 crashed into the side of Mount Gannett, Alaska. Sixty years later a glacier yielded up both the wreckage and remains of some of the crash’s victims. Michael Rocereta uses his two decades’ worth of experience as an instrument-rated private pilot, his education as a geologist and his experience investigating accidents to guide his research, presentation and conclusions regarding the accident. Letters from the Globemaster Families uses as introductions to its chapters the correspondence of relatives as they write about their desires to know the details of the airplane’s crash and their loved ones’ deaths. This approach provides a personal counterbalance to the technical details covered in the chapters themselves. The book concludes with a collection of short biographies of the servicemen, a glossary of terms and acronyms, a selected bibliography, and an index. No matter whether you appreciate the work of a solid investigation, regional history of Alaska, military history, or the resolution that individuals can feel when they come to closure, then Letters from the Globemaster Families: The Lost C-124 of Mount Gannett, Alaska, will deliver a focused narrative of a tragic event that spans the decades.
About the Author
Michael Rocereta is a geologist and geophysicist. An instrument-rated private pilot with two decades of flying, mostly recorded in Alaska. Now retired, he worked for private industry over the past thirty-eight years, occasionally investigating accidents. His cases have included major aircraft accidents. He lives in Eagle River, Alaska.