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Carole Lombard Killed in 1942...



Item # 575174

January 19, 1942

THE CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR, Boston, Massachusetts, January 19, 1942 

* Hollywood Actress Carole Lombard dies in plane crash

This 14 page newspaper has a one column headline on page 7: "Carole Lombard's War Work Praised By Treasury Head"

Other news of the day throughout. Good condition.

wikipedia notes: When the US entered World War II at the end of 1941, Lombard traveled to her home state of Indiana for a war bond rally. At four o'clock in the morning of Friday, January 16, 1942, Lombard and her mother boarded a Trans World Airlines DC-3 airplane to return to California. After refueling in Las Vegas, the plane took off on a clear night, and twenty-three minutes later crashed into "Double Up Peak" near the 8300-foot level of Mount Potosi, 30 miles southwest of Las Vegas. All 22 passengers were killed. A plaque marks the spot.

Just before boarding the plane, Carole had addressed her fans, saying, "Before I say goodbye to you all, come on and join me in a big cheer! V for Victory!" President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who admired her patriotism, declared her the first woman killed in the line of duty during the war and posthumously awarded her the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

Shortly after her death at the age of thirty-three, Gable (who was inconsolable and devastated by his loss) joined the United States Army Air Forces, serving as a gunner on a bomber on combat missions over Europe. The Liberty ship SS Lombard was named for her and Gable attended its launch on January 15, 1944.
Her final film, To Be or Not to Be, directed by Ernst Lubitsch and co-starring Jack Benny â

Category: The 20th Century