"We almost made it through," Frank said, "but almost doesn't do it." "I got down and prayed." Then I remember following Artimus (Lynyrd Skynyrd drummer Artimus Pyle) into a field and going into a trailer. "I could hear helicopters flying overhead. "I had always assumed we had crashed close to McComb," Frank said. "I had no idea we crashed this far out in the middle of nowhere. They were attempting to make a landing in an open field about 300 yards from where the plane went down. The plane's pilots were headed to McComb Airport but wouldn't make it. "At first, we weren't going to come, but I said well it's 40 years and we might not make 50 years as old as we are." ![]() "My buddy Marc Frank who was sitting at a table across from me on the plane, he got in touch with me and talked me into coming," Howard said. He returned Friday at the encouragement of two of his friends, fellow plane crash survivor Frank and Earl Wingerter. Since the crash, Howard had 17 hip replacements which doctors believe is related to the crash trauma, Howard said. The doctor told his father that if he ever did wake up, he wouldn't be right, Howard recalled. He suffered a broken clavicle, broken hip and a skull fracture "over my ear and all the way around." He didn't wake up from the crash until five days later. Howard returned with a cane, the result of injuries he sustained in the crash. His condition at the time was so severe that he was airlifted to the University Medical Center in Jackson. Both Frank and Howard made the trek to Mississippi on Friday as part of the 40th anniversary of the crash.
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