LAREDO PLANE MISSING WITH THREE ABOARD

   A plane from Laredo with three persons aboard is reported missing, last heard from Wednesday morning when the pilot radioed the Del Rio International Airport for weather information.
   An aerial search will be launched by the Civil Air Patrol from headquarters being sent up this morning in Ocona if a check of airports and airstrips where the plane might have landed proves fruitless. Sheriff Herman Richler said at noon here.
   C. E. Drury, piloting a Cessna 182, left Laredo Wednesday at 6 a.m., carrying two passengers and apparently bound for Midland. No flight plan was filed.
   At 8:03 a.m. Drury called the airport in Del Rio for weather conditions but he was checking on weather information at Uvalde rather than Midland.
   Ocona reported hearing the radio request, the sheriff said. Air distance from Laredo to Midland is approximately 250 miles, officers here estimated, and under ordinary circumstances the plane would not have required refueling before reaching its destination.
   The pilot and plane were reported missing by Drury's brother, who celled the sheriff's department here from Midland when the aircraft failed to arrive.
   Assistance in the ground search was sought by (he Texas Department of Public Safety by radio and teletype and a check is being made by sheriffs, Border Patrolmen and Highway Patrolmen of airports where the Cessna might have landed-
   Rlchter said his department has checked Uvalde, Sonora, Junction, Kerrville. Eagle Pass, Carrizo Springs and Ocona this morning without locating the missing aircraft. Airport and air strips will be checked for a possible landing and if nothing is found the CAP will be called on to launch an aerial search," Judge Jim Lindsey said this morning. He is commander of the local CAP squadron, which has 20 members, and E. E. Townsend, the deputy. If the ground search doesn't  [see Plane --- Page 2A]

Del Rio News Herald, Del Rio, TX, 17 Sep 1964, Thu 1]

Plane Crash Kills Three
   CIUDAD ACUNA, Mexico (AP) Mexican police found the bodies of three Texans with a wrecked plane Thursday.
   They identified the dead, all from Laredo, as pilot C. E. Drury, Don Sparks and Pete Barrera.
   Sheriff Dale Richter of Del Rio, Tex., reported the plane, a Cessna 182 which disappeared the day before on a flight from Laredo to Midland, cracked up about 2 1/2 miles south of the Rio Grande a point, opposite Comstock, Tex.
   Drury had inquired about the weather at Midland at 8:02 a.m. Wednesday. Apparently that was the last word before the craft went down.

[The Odessa American (Odessa, Texas) 18 Sep 1964, Fri • Other Editions • Page 6]

   Bodies of three Laredo men were brought from the wreckage of their plane on the Chularosa Ranch in Mexico to Ciudad Acuna shortly before noon today and are to arrive here following an inquest by Mexican authorities.
   Deputy Sheriff Calvin Watten took relatives of the dead men to Acuna to fill out necessary papers for authorities there. The crash site was pinpointed Thursday at 6:35 p.m. by aircraft from Del Rio following a widespread search for the plane, missing since Wednesday morning on a flight from Laredo to Midland.
   Killed in the crash on the rolling countryside 2 1/2 miles south of the Rio Grande across from Comstock, Texas, were C. E. Drury, piloting the plane, Don Sparks and Pete Barrera.
   The three men took off from Laredo Wednesday at 6 a.m. in a single engine plane, bound for Midland. At 8:03 that morning Drury called the Del Rio International Airport for weather information about the time a squall line had formed to the vicinity.
  The radio call was the last, word heard from the three and later Wednesday Drury's brother in Midland launched the search that did not end until Thursday night.
   A ranch worker on the Chularosa Ranch saw the wreckage and reported it to police officials in Ciudad Acuna. They in turn , notified the sheriff's department in Del Rio.  Sherriff Herman Richter received notice from Acuna police at 6 p.m., Thursday.
   At that time, four Civil Air Patrol planes from Del Rio were searching the northwest portion of of Val Verde County, flying about two miles apart in an assigned pattern, each plane with an observer,
   The CAP planes were contacted by radio and flew to the ranch owned by Juan Quiroz.  Judge Jim Lindsey, commander of the CAP unit here, was flying as observer for E.E. Townsend and Townsend landed at (he ranch to talk to the worker for explicit instructions.
   His information was relayed to the other planes in the air and one of the CAP aircraft, 1 piloted by Noble Taylor with Jack Moon as observer, landed at the crash site. Two of the bodies had remained in the craft; the other was about 70 or 80 feet away.
   Wings had been torn from the the plane and wreckage was scattered over a wide area. The engine had been pushed back into the fuselage and the tail portion was standing straight up, Taylor said. The plane did not burn.
   Mexican officials posted a [SEE CRASH — Page 5]

Crash ... [Continued from Page 1]

guard at the site, barring all until this morning, when the bodies were moved.
   The three dead men were contractors in Laredo.  Drury and Sparks, were builders; Barrera was an air conditioning contractor. All have families in Laredo.
  Search for them had been made by sheriffs. Border Patrolmen and Highway Patrolmen over a wide area before the aerial search was launched. Planes from Laredo, Midland and Del Rio hunted In addition to the planes piloted by Townsend and Taylor, CAP planes involved in the search were those piloted by Dr. L M. Cartell and Walter Fawcett with! Bob Nicholson as Cartell's observer and J B. Phillips flying with Fawcett.
   Lindsey estimated the four CAP planes from Del Rio had searched a 1.000 square mile area before being notified by radio the wreckage had been sighted in Mexico, 10 miles from the Chulorosa ranch house.

[Del Rio News Herald (Del Rio, Val Verde, TX, 18 Sep 1964, Fri, Pages 1 & 5]

[courtesy of Jim Liles]

Grave marker for Cloysce E. Drury in Block 27, Section A, Row 2, Space 15, Laredo City Cemetery, Laredo (Webb county), Texas.

Cloysce enlisted in the Army at San Antonio, TX on 6 October 1942.

On 23 October 1942, Pvt Drury was transferred from the Reception Center, Fort Sam Houston, TX to Company A, 508th PIR
   In 17 July 1943 he was appointed to the grade of Corporal and on 16 August 1943 to Sergeant.

On 26 June 1944, he was reported as missing inaction as of 13 June.1944.  On 16 July 1944 his status was changed to wounded in action on 17 June 1944.

Sgt Drury was able to return to duty on 27 September 1944 but was transferred to service Company for light duty.  He was transferred back to Company A on 13 December 1944.

However, just two days later he was hospitalized at the 50th Field Hospital,  Camp Sissonne, classed as a non battle casualty.  He returned to the regiment on 23 December, again being assigned to Service Company.

Following this respite he was reassigned to Company A on 8 January 1945, presumably o the front lines.

His military decorations include the Purple Heart and the Bronze Service Arrowhead device awarded for participation in Normandy assault.