- Wreckage of Pan Am Clipper Endeavor found after 70 years off Puerto Rico coast
- Plane crashed in 1952 killing 52 with 17 survivors including Gloria Rosario
- A letter from a soldier to his bride was recovered from a floating handbag
More than seven decades after its disappearance, search teams recently located the wreckage of the Pan Am Clipper Endeavor off the coast of Puerto Rico. The aircraft crashed into the Atlantic shortly after takeoff in 1952, leading to 52 deaths. There were only 17 survivors. While the discovery solves a long-standing aviation mystery, the tragedy is best remembered through a deeply personal relic recovered from the waves.
Dr Angel M Marchand wrote in El Mundo, which was the island's leading newspaper at the time, that he spotted a handbag, floating among the debris in the water during the initial rescue efforts. According to CNN, inside was a soaked yet legible letter written by a young Puerto Rican soldier stationed in Massachusetts to his 22-year-old bride, Gloria Rosario. An expression of pure joy filled the pages as he looked forward to her joining him in New York.
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"You cannot imagine the joy you have given me by saying you will join me in New York. I am the happiest man on Earth," the soldier wrote. Trying to ease her anxieties about travelling by air, he offered gentle reassurance, "Do not be afraid of the plane. Nothing will happen."
Gloria survived the sudden ditching into the Atlantic, though her cousin seated beside her did not make it. The doctor later tracked down Gloria at a local hospital and returned her purse and her husband's message.
"Miss, I found your purse with a letter from your husband. He must be very worried. When I saw your name in the hospital, I decided to let him know you were safe and sound," the doctor reportedly told her.
"Oh, poor man," she replied. "He is so good. And he has faith."
While speaking with the doctor, Gloria had said, "More people should have been saved."
She was just 22 at the time of the crash; she died in 2015 at the age of 85.
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Pan Am Plane Crash
Pan Am Flight 526A, a Douglas DC-4 named Clipper Endeavor, took off from San Juan, Puerto Rico, bound for New York's Idlewild Airport (now JFK International Airport) on Good Friday, April 11, 1952. The aircraft carried 64 passengers and five crew members.
About 10 minutes after takeoff, both engines on the right side failed. The captain ditched the plane in the Atlantic Ocean roughly 11 miles northwest of San Juan. But the plane began taking on water in rough seas. Pre-flight safety briefings were not standard in 1952, and chaos erupted in the cabin.
The crash directly transformed air travel safety forever. It was found that everyone survived the initial impact with the water. But passengers struggled to locate flotation gear during the panic; aviation authorities made pre-flight safety demonstrations mandatory worldwide, teaching travellers how to find life vests and emergency exits.
Now resting nearly 2,000 feet beneath the surface, the newly discovered plane remains a silent memory of grief and survival.
"My mother always lamented the plane went down in the deepest part of the ocean," Rosario's son, 54, told CNN.
"She always imagined it would take a long time to find the wreckage. I would have loved for her to have seen this. She always wanted recognition for the victims, especially her cousin."
