Memories from afar of Flight 191

Your Friday, May 24, front-page article on the recollections of Flight 191 by Daily Herald photojournalist Dave Tonge brought back my memories of that fated flight. As with many, my recollections were from afar, not as an eyewitness.

As a firefighter EMT with the city of St. Charles, I later attended a seminar on disaster preparedness given by the Cook County coroner. Some of his accounts given to us on Flight 191 stick with me, showing how little humanity has changed.

According to him, the first-arriving emergency personnel were police and sheriff officers, and although they were on scene nearly instantly after the crash, there were looters there already going through personal belongings and luggage, looking for items of value. it took some time to secure the scene, yet looters persisted in sneaking in.

The largest piece of any human remains was a thigh, according to the coroner. Devastation was complete, and any hope, as your article recounted, of finding anyone to save was soon dashed.

A temporary morgue was set up in, I believe he said a hangar. Body bags were hard to come by, since no one was prepared. The mixture of bags varied quite a bit by color, and, of course, the usual complainers of racism were present, loudly proclaiming the "injustice" of separating race by body-bag color. The truth was no one could tell from the few remains who was whom. Some bags contained only small pieces of human tissue. It took months to sort things out, if, even to this day all are accounted for.

These are some of the recollections of this writer. No doubt, you'll hear from others. It was a sad day for us all, that helpless sense of loss for those dedicated to the safety and well-being of others.

Jim Ledbetter Sr.

North Aurora