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Jan. 31, 2007 Last summer I read an article in the LA Daily Times that talked about an airplane crash that occurred 50 years ago today in Pacoima, California, at Pacoima Middle School. Several days ago, while looking for something else in my Bookmarks, I found the link to a woman’s website, angiejim, who had been there that day as a student, and not only did she record her observations of the day, but she has encouraged other survivors of that horrible day to share theirs. It makes for some very sad reading and the poignancy of all those young children struggling to heal through that devastating date. She has a page with pictures of many children, and a description of their injuries. It’s so hard to look at, and I wasn’t even born at the time, nor do I know any of them. Probably the most striking and sad thing about the Daily Times article, is it mentions no memorial has ever been erected for the three children who died, the 70+ who were injured (some horrifically) and the several hundred who were there that day, who witnessed their friends dying, and who helped with the wounded. The survivors evidently received no counseling or support, and it appears even within their own families, they were told to ‘just forget it’. How could all those children just be forgotten? It’s now the 50th anniversary, and nothing has been done. Every one of those children needed to be held that day. They all needed to vent their anger and frustration and grieve. They needed the support of their family and their school and their community. Instead, many were told, either outright, or through silence, that this was not something to speak of. Through the website of angiejim (do a Google search with angiejim and Pacoima in the search bar to find her site, I also learned that this accident was immortalized in the film La Bamba. Ritchie Valens was a student at the school, and was absent that day. This accident set him up for a fear of airplanes and flying, until his death, almost 2 years to the day of the accident. Different accounts say either his best friend, or his cousin died in the middle school accident. If he was so gravely affected by this horror, can’t we expect that all those children would be as well? The children who survived that accident would be in their 60’s now. It’s not too late to acknowledge their pain and grief. The city of Pacoima should do their part and honor these kids. Pacoima Middle School should do their part as well, and honor these kids. It’s the least they can do. ------------ About the author: Diane Shepardson is a new contributor to Useless Knowledge. Email: diane_shepardson@yahoo.com Comment on this article here! ------------ All articles are EXCLUSIVE to Useless-Knowledge.com. Please link to this article rather than copying and pasting it onto your site (which would be unauthorized and illegal). |
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