In the News Again

The two smokejumpers who parachuted to the site of the T-34 crash were honored a year later in a ceremony in Washington. The El Paso Times carried the story in its May 18, 1963 edition:

Two Smokejumpers Honored At
Award Ceremony In Washington

The U.S. Department of Agriculture honored three employees of the Forest Service's Southwestern Region during the 17th Annual Award Ceremony in Washington Friday, reported Fred H. Kennedy, Regional forester.

Among the 75 employees receiving Superior Service Awards were Richard Sidney (Dick) Tracy and G. Kirk Samsel, smokejumpers on the Gila National Forest in New Mexico, who received a joint award "for Heroic action in parachuting under extremely hazardous conditions to a crashed airplane, saving the life of the critically injured pilot with effective first aid...."

Vice President Lyndon Johnson delivered the Award Ceremony address and Secretary of Agriculture Orville L. Freeman presented the awards.

Richard Tracy, supervisory smokejumper on the Gila National Forest, and Kirk Samsel, a smokejumper employed in the Northern Region at Missoula, Mont., but assigned to the Gila during the 1962 fire season, made a dangerous parachute jump at dusk to the scene of a Forest Service observation plane crash in rugged terrain near McKnight Canyon in the Gila National Forest. Their first aid training enabled them to save the life of pilot Wendall Schroll and aid Robert M. Ingraham, Jr. [sic]* an injured passenger in the plane. Prior to their receiving this Superior Service Award for the heroic action, the smokejumpers each received $300 performance awards from the Southwestern Region.

* The story incorrectly identifies the passenger as my father, Robert M. Ingraham. I am Robert P. Ingraham.