Personal Stories
Cari Aiken | aiken.cari@gmail.com
Robert "Bob" M. Aiken
Bob Aiken was my uncle, my father's oldest brother, that I never had the chance to know. He was just 20 years old when he boarded his flight to return to duty in Nevada. He had been in Boston on leave visiting my dad, then 17, at Berklee School of Music over the Labor Day weekend. I grew up knowing my uncle had been killed in a plane crash, but did not know the full story until recently, when I came across the GenDisasters website (www3.gendisasters.com) with several articles regarding the crash. Reading the articles about the plane crashing shortly after takeoff, the names of all the lives lost, the families affected and the personal stories about some of the passengers really made it personal for me. I wanted to do something to keep their memories alive, to make sure these people weren't forgotten. They were brothers, sisters, fathers, mothers, grandparents, aunts, uncles and children. All of them lost due to the failure of a bolt on an airplane. These people left behind families, friends, neighbors and colleagues, and many of them were young, with the whole world ahead of them. That is why I created this webpage to honor them all, and to share their stories.
By Cari Aiken
Bob Aiken was my uncle, my father's oldest brother, that I never had the chance to know. He was just 20 years old when he boarded his flight to return to duty in Nevada. He had been in Boston on leave visiting my dad, then 17, at Berklee School of Music over the Labor Day weekend. I grew up knowing my uncle had been killed in a plane crash, but did not know the full story until recently, when I came across the GenDisasters website (www3.gendisasters.com) with several articles regarding the crash. Reading the articles about the plane crashing shortly after takeoff, the names of all the lives lost, the families affected and the personal stories about some of the passengers really made it personal for me. I wanted to do something to keep their memories alive, to make sure these people weren't forgotten. They were brothers, sisters, fathers, mothers, grandparents, aunts, uncles and children. All of them lost due to the failure of a bolt on an airplane. These people left behind families, friends, neighbors and colleagues, and many of them were young, with the whole world ahead of them. That is why I created this webpage to honor them all, and to share their stories.
By Cari Aiken