Downed Jet Pilot Survives for
54 Days in Sierra Wilderness
J
CASTLE AIR FORCE BASE,
Calif., (#)—Air Force Lt. David A.
Steeves grinned through ‘his 8
week-old beard Tuesday and
told how he lived 54 days in the
night-frozen high Sierra after
parachuting from his plane on
May 9.
Three weeks ago the Air Force
had reported him dead.
Steeves’ story began soon after
he left Hamilton Air Force Base
near San Francisco for Luke AFB,
Arizona on May 9.
Jet "Just Exploded"
He said he never knew what
happened to th’e J-33 jet trainer
he was flying solo. “It just ex
ploded,” he said.
He said he was knocked out
briefly and bailed out when he
came to.
“I banged up both my ankles
pretty bad,” he said. “For about
a day I couldn’t move. Then I
was able to crawl.” He had his
flight jacket to wear over his
summer uniform, and wrapped
himself in his parachute at night.
Crawled, Hobbled, Slid
Steeves said • he crawled, hob
bled and slid about 12 miles in 15
days until he found a ranger’s
emergency log cabin tool shed at
Simpson Meadows. This was over
an 11,000-foot granite pass re
garded as almost impassable and
then down to the 6,000-foot level.
Steeves said he had nothing to
eat during those 15 days, “but I
had no trouble with water.”
In.the cabin he found canned
hash and beans, and some sugar.
After two days he sought to trav
el again, but spring thaws had
swollen the Kings River and he
was forced to .turn back. -j
Rigged a Trap
He lost all sense of time, he
said, but found two. rusty fish
hooks nnd caught fish. He also
rigged his .32 service revolver
with string and set a trap that
bagged a deer one night. But he
didn’t hear the shot and by the
time he got to the ?deer other ani
mals had eaten most of it.
Afe Garden Snakes
He found some garden snakes
which he cooked and , ate—but
couldn’t find any rattlesnakes,
which he was hunting. They’re
larger and much meatier.
Last Sunday the water had
gone down and he started out
again, his ankles much improved.
He encountered two hikers, who
took him to a ranger camp where
he telephoned his family.
“I feel pretty good now,” he
said. “I had a lot of pain in my
legs most of the time. I was just
trying to live.”
The 23-year-old pilot was down
50 or 60 pounds from his normal
195 pounds.
“I wasn’t religious when I went
in there, but it was faith in the
Lord that brought me out,” he
said. I
4,000 Persons
Now Missing in
Iran Earthquake
TEHRAN, Iran, (#>—Rescue
workers came across the bodies
of 400 victims in two earthquake
devastated villages in northern
Iran today. The discovery boost
ed the total to more than 2,000
persons now missing.
The rescue workers uncovered
the victims in the villages of
Tighband and Sandchal. They
had not been listed in previous
reports.
Property damages also were
huge from yesterday’s quakes
ranging over a 500-mile arc in
northern Iran extending up to
the Soviet border.
The quakes spread death and
damage over the Elburz moun
tain range, along the Caspian
Sea’s southern edge and up to the
Soviet border on both sides of the
sea.
Iranian officials estimated the
property loss at more than $12
million. They put the number of
seriously injured at 1,500.
More than 100 villages were
described by officials as wiped
out and nearly 50 more partially
damaged.
No fresh tremors were reported
today but the frightened populace
slept in the streets and fields last
night.
There was no word of what
happened on the Soviet side of
the border. The Soviet Union’s
big Baku oil production center is
on the western side of the Cas
pian Sea.
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LITTLE LEAGUE
DOINGS
In a continuation of Little
League play the Little Polar Hor
nets (Stingers) lived up to their
name and went on a hitting spree
that netted them a 25 to 13 lead
over the Panther Cubs in a pre
4th of July contest. Although the
tilt went only three innings it
started out as a battle between
the heavy hitters in both squads.
In the first inning the Cubs gar
nered 9 runs on 6 hits with a
home run by Taylor Moto. Pitch
er Mike Cannon allowed only 3
hits which netted one run for j
Hornets by Johnny Herman. j
The second inning saw a series j
of hits and runs by the Hornets;
that added 23 to the box score. J
Cannon, in sportsman-like fash- I
ion asked to be relieved and Jack1
Lewis went in to pitch in the
bottom half. In the third and
final frame the Panthers scored
three runs on two hits, while the
Hornets scored one run on two
hits.
Action will continue at 7 p.m.!
on the evening of the 4th and a |
spirit of determination permeates )
both teams. Watch for the com- |
plete line scores of this tourna- j
ment in the next issue of the |
Nugget.
Panther Cubs ....9 1 3—13
Little Hornets 1 23 1—25 ,
Cannon and Lewis, Friesz and j
Johnsen.
Locke and Herman.
- !
People who see pink elephants i
report they are truly like beasts j
of bourbon.
CHERRYS
BARBER SHOP
will he
CLOSED
July 4, 5 and 6!
I
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