May 25 will mark the 40th anniversary of the worst airplane disaster in U.S. history — 273 lives lost — and it happened here.
On this date in 1979, an American Airlines DC-10 carrying 15 crew members and 256 passengers crashed 30 seconds after takeoff from O’Hare International Airport. Narrowly avoiding a mobile home park and oil storage tanks, the jumbo jet cleared a busy Touhy Avenue before crashing into a field just north of the airport then bursting into flames. All those aboard and two people on the ground died.
A memorial to these victims was dedicated in 2011 at Lake Park in Des Plaines, less than two miles east of the crash site. One of the difficulties in putting it together was to compile a complete list of victims’ names — something American Airlines refused to release then and now. “We never release the names of our passengers, regardless of circumstance,” an American Airlines media spokesperson wrote in an e-mail based upon a recent request.
Though the baiduhai archives include photos of the crash scene and the efforts to provide last rites to and identification of the victims, there are few photos found of the victims, themselves. We do not want them to be forgotten.
In an effort to bring awareness to this disaster and to those who died, we are asking family members and friends to provide photos and memories of their lost loved ones. Please email [email protected].
What follows is a list of victims’ names as they appear on the memorial:
James W. Adams III
James Adams III
Jeffrey N. Adams
Kathleen Adduci
Robert E. Aeschbacher
Abdullah Al-Swailem
Basil Al-Swailem
Mona Al-Swailem
Jessica A. Altman
Colleen Anderson
Gary Ang
Edward Armenta
Ruth C. Armstrong
Robert Artz
Sherry Atkinson
Ruth Baldini
George Barich
Robert E. Baum
Jeanette Bean
Charles Becker
Carroll D. Begley
Judith Bennett
Itzhak Bentov
Jeff J. Bett, Jr.
Stephen Blake
Paul A. Blovin, Sr.
Jim Bollinger
Bill Borchers
Corrinne Borchers
Edmund A. Bower
Reginald N. Braine
Oran Bridges
Allen E. Bryson
Eugene Bugajski
Linda K. Bundens
Paula M. Burns
Terrence G. Cady
Gerald Campbell
Bob Cannon
Carol Carlson
Dana L. Castronovo
Sheila C. Charisse
Charles Cheng
Ping Chun
Stephen Clark
Ira S. Cohen
Sara W. Collins
Dennis T. Connell
John L. Conner
Bruce D. Corrigan
Anthony J. Costello
David J. Coughlin
Francis L. Coulter, Jr.
John W. Craig
Sedonna O. Crawford
James Crossley
Mario A. Crucioli
Elena Crucioli
Ed David
Patricia C. Davis
Marilyn H. Davis
James T. De Hart
Rhonda De Young
Joseph DeBerry
John Deverrier
Gail S. Dhariwal
Gail S. Dicastro
Don Dick
Patrick A. Dicredico
James R. Dillard
Robert J. Dimiceli
Darlene DiPietro
Wilbur Dittmer
Lloyd Dixon
Jack Donahue
Donald Driscoll
James W. Dudley
Kathleen M. Dzwonkowski
Frederick Eaton
Amy Eisenburg
Rev. Edward E. Elliott
Carl Entener
Terry Ernest
Dr. Roy Eshenaur
Marian E. Eshenaur
Susan Falcone
Carol Ferntheil
William Files
Larry M. Fink
Robert A. Fish
Sharon Fitzgerald
Richard J. Forstrom
Carmen L. Fowler
Walter L. Frasier
Joan Fuselier
Kathleen Gallagher
Robert M. Gardner
Francis R. Gemme
Clem Glass
Craig Goetz
Marc Goldsmith
Joseph L. Gonzalez, Sr.
Lloyd E. Gray
Andrew D. Green
Alan Green
Mike Green
Judy Green
Stephen Greene
F. Eugene Greenroyd
Kenneth Greger
Raymond L. Griego
William F. Guthrie
Victoria Chen Haider
Paul Halopoff
Mattie Hammond
Robert Hampel
Jong Bin Han
Charles T. Harlin
Anna Harrison
George Hart
Nigel Hawkins
Daniel R. Hayes
Samuel Henderson
Pete Herdman
Katherine A. Hiebert
Phillip Higginbotham
Edward Hill
Donald E. Hoover
Olin W. Hoskins
Elaine Howell
Eichi Ing
Stuart N. Janis
Ferdinand Jaworowski
Charles A. Johnstone
Hans J. Kahl
Marc Kamhi
Richard B. Keely
Howard F. Keeney
Jerri Koch
Thomas Koneski
Priscilla Kostohryz
Bert Krell
Dr. David Kuykendal
Rose Kuykendal
John Lakotas
Kenneth Lamb
Susan Lang
Stephen E. Lang
Anthony Lavorgna
Margaret Lavorgna
Lorene K. Leiman
Richard E. Lent
Rev. Albert Leunens
Dr. Shu-Ren Lin
Walter H. Lux
Virginia K. Magner
Henry C. Magner
Michelle Malacynski
Doreen Malek
Timothy J. Malone
Jacques Manning
Joel Markus
Laura Marquet
Jon D. May
Gordon Mcatee
Marjorie L. McCorkle
William McGinnis
Marvin Milner, Jr.
Myron Miyagawa
Michael M. Mlsna, III
Romeo Mon
John G. Moncrieff
Peter Moon
Debra A. Moruzi
Karl F. Muller
William C. Muller
Julia T. Nary
Willard R. Nary
Yvonne Nasch
Jeffery Nordhaus
Don J. Novelli
James O’Bannon
Margaret O’Rourke
Carol M. Ohm
Andrew Oliver
John R. Ondreck
Donald G. Optican
Julie L. Ozminkowski
John E. Pillivant
James Pint
William T. Pittenger
Marsha Platt
Eileen M. Plesa
Rossmoyne Pohlson
Constance Polley
Linda M. Prince
Henry F. Regnery, Jr.
Jack E. Reich
Allen Riddle
Alfred Rider
John Robinson
Dean Rogers
Geertruida Rothfusz
Robert Rothfusz
Douglas Ruble
Jack Russell
Edwin Salisbury
Zaida L. Schade
Zaida Schade
Marjorie Schade
Paul Schade
Michael Schassburger
Wilhelmina Schots
Anne Schots
Charles M. Schrader
Richard Schuster
Beatrice Schwartz
Bernard Schwartz
Vernon Sharpe
Ina P. Shatkin
Lloyd Shatkin
Wayland Sheffield
Mary Tierney Sheridan
Larry Silva
Michael J. Silva
Rodney S. Simmons
Michael S. Sirota
Michael Smith
Robert R. Spicuzza
Salvatore Spina
Margaret Stacks
Leonard Stogel
Jack Stone
John Stone
Elanor J. Stromme
Nancy T. Sullivan
Colin Sutton
Chris Sutton
Stephen Sutton
Carolyn M. Sutton
William R. Swift
Michael A. Taylor
Kerry Tims
Sally J. Titterington
Raul Trammel
Paul R. Trautmann
Clark Turner
Margaret Tyne
Alfred F. Udovich
Craig Valladares
Dr. Rene Valle
Margaret Valuch
Pieter Van Berkhoot
Dr. Robert W. Vaughan
Narda Vetor
Martha J. Vickery
Carl Vincent
Doyle Walker
Rebecca Washburn
Richard A. Watson
Judith Wax
Sheldon Wax
Dr. John B. Wear, Jr.
Richard J. White
Theodore Whyland
Ronald Willner
Dale Witthoft
Walter Yamashiro
Richard Zepnick
James M. Zielinski
Diane Ziemba
Jon J. Ziemba
Al Zvanut