N8082U, the United Airlines DC-8-61 involved, pictured in
1972 sporting a previous identifying design. Photo taken
at Seattle / Tacoma – Int. (SEA). 

       
        
       
Originating at John F. Kennedy Airport in New York, United
Airlines Flight 173 stopped in Denver, and continued to
Portland on Thursday, December 28, 1978.

The pilot reported a problem with the plane’s nose landing
gear to the Portland tower, and, according to the National
Transportation Safety Board report, failed to monitor properly
the aircraft’s fuel state and to properly respond to the low
fuel state. The Board blamed pilot error for the crash

After circling Portland International Airport the DC-8 ran out
of fuel and crashed into two vacant houses and a grove of
trees at East Burnside Street, five miles southeast of the
airport and about 200 feet east of 157th Avenue  at around
6:15 P.M.

The jetliner, reportedly was carrying 172 adult passengers,
five infants and eight crew members.

     
    
    
Capt. Malburn "Buddy" McBroom (52), a World War II Navy
veteran and longtime United pilot, recovers in a Gresham,
Oregon hospital.  (KATU)        

United Flight 173 survivor Lynn Egli, right, stands with
KATU’s Steve Dunn at the memorial for the passengers
aboard United Flight 173 that killed 10 people. (KATU)

On December 26, 1972, former 33rd President of the United
States Harry S. Truman died in Independence, Missouri.

Then-President Richard Nixon called Truman a man of
“forthrightness and integrity” who had a deep respect
for the office he held and for the people he served, and
who “supported and wisely counseled each of his
successors.” Truman was in office from April 12, 1945
to January 20, 1953.

On December 5, 1972, Truman was admitted to Kansas City’s
Research Hospital and Medical Center with pneumonia.

He developed multiple organ failure, fell into a coma, and
died at 7:50 a.m. on December 26, at the age of 88.

Truman in September 1917.

Harry and Bess Truman on their wedding
day, June 28, 1919.

President Harry Truman holds up a copy of the Chicago
Daily Tribune declaring his "defeat" to Thomas Dewey
in the presidential election, St Louis, Missouri, in Nov.
1948. 

Truman was so widely expected to lose the 1948 election that
the Chicago Tribune had printed papers with this erroneous
headline when few returns were in.

The atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki on August
6 and 9, 1945 respectively, were authorized by President
Truman at the end of World War II.

SANDY KOZEL

The crew of the Apollo 8 (from left): Frank Borman, William Anders and James Lovell Jr. (AP Photo) 

 

Borman announced that the crew had a final message for
the people of Earth as each man took turns reading the 
first 10 verses of the book of Genesis from the Bible.

The Apollo 8 mission paved the way for Apollo 11, fulfilling
President John F. Kennedy’s goal of landing a man on the
moon before the end of the decade.

Apollo 8 command module in the Museum of
Science and Industry.

The crew and captain of the U.S. intelligence gathering ship
Pueblo were released after 11 months imprisonment by the
government of North Korea. The ship, and its 83-man crew,
was seized by North Korean warships on January 23 and
charged with intruding into North Korean waters.

Navy intelligence ship Pueblo.

Lloyd Mark "Pete" Bucher
(1 September 1927 – 28 January 2004)

On December 23, 1823, “A Visit From St. Nicholas,” perhaps
the most famous and influential Christmas poem ever was
published in the Troy Sentinel newspaper in New York by
an anonymous author.