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1/LT THURLOW W. MATTESON


NOTE:  The news article consistently misspells "Matteson" as "Madison"


Crash Scene Photo


Cemetery Interment Record

Grave marker for 1/Lt Thurlow W. Matteson in Plot F - 262 of the Rock Island National Cemetery, Rock Island (Rock Island), IL

'Copter Crash Near Alberta Kills Army Officer
And Injures Another

Thurlow enlisted in the Army on 11 Jan 1943 at Los Angeles, CA.
   After completion of jump school at Fort Benning, GA, he was transferred to the 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment.  Pvt Matteson was assigned to H Company.
   He was awarded the Bronze Service Arrowhead for his participation in the Holland campaign and Airborne operations.
   Following the war he became a commissioned officer and helicopter pilot.  Since he served in Korea and picked up a Bronze Star with 1 OLC, he may have flown in Korea as a medical evacuation pilot bringing wounded to MASH units.
   That postulation is furthered by the fact that he was killed while flying an H-19 Chickasaw, i.e., transitioning to a larger, heavier aircraft.  Watch this 1956 Fort Rucker
video "Helicopter Pilot Training: "Transition to the H-19" which Thurlow probably once watched as well.

Lt. T. W. Madison Of Ft-. Rucker, Ala., Loses Life—Survivor In Critical Condition
by JIMMY EZZELL
Progress-Index Staff Writer

ALBERTA [AL] April 27 —One Army officer was killed and another seriously injured late this afternoon when an Army helicopter crashed and burned near near this Brunswick County town.
   Killed was First Lieutenant Thurlow W. Madison of Fort Rucker. Ala. His Home address was listed as Greensboro. N. C.
   Warrant Officer James M. Williams, 30, also of Fort Rucker. was Injured. He suffered third degree burns over more than 90 per cent of his body and his condition was reported as "very critical" [emergency?] in South Hill Hospital, where he was carried after being treated at the scene of the crash.
  The helicopter, a two-seater, crashed around 4:45 o’clock, approximately 150 yards south of State Road 606. one-half mile  west of Alberta.
   Madison was trapped In the flaming wreckage and was burned

beyond recognition. Several hours after the flames were extinguished by the Alberta Volunteer Fire Department, Lt. Madison's charred body was found with his seat belt around his waist.   The cause of the crash was not immediately learned. Army Authorities at the scene said they had not determined the flight schedule of the helicopter. The log book and personal effects or the two men were taken Into custody by military police and criminal Investigation agents from Fort Rucker.
   Captain Robert S. Kelly, public information officer at Fort Rucker. said late tonight, that Second Army Headquarters at Fort Meade, Md, had assigned Major Harold E. Woolf, of Fort Lee to investigate the crash.

NOTE: the pilot was later reported to have said that the aircraft's transmission had become badly overheated and that the controls would not respond.

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