Seventy-four years after Pan Am Flight 526A, known as the "Easter Special," crashed into the sea near Puerto Rico, one of the most poignant stories of that tragedy has been brought back to light after the discovery of the plane's wreckage at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean.
Moments after the crash, a doctor on a rescue boat spotted a woman's purse floating in the waves. When he opened it, he found face powder and a handwritten letter inside. Although soaked with seawater, the letter was still legible.
It had been sent by a young Puerto Rican soldier, stationed in Massachusetts, to his newlywed wife, Gloria Rosario, who was traveling to New York to reunite with him.
"You can't imagine how happy you made me when you told me you were coming to New York. I'm the happiest man on Earth," he wrote.
At the end of the letter, the soldier prayed to the Virgin Mary to protect him during the flight and reassured him with a sentence that sounds chilling today:
"Don't be afraid of the plane. Nothing will happen."
A little later, the doctor saw Gloria Rosario's name on a list of survivors at a hospital. She was one of only 17 people who survived, while 52 others lost their lives.
He approached him and said:
“Miss, I found your bag with your husband’s letter. He must be very worried. When I saw your name at the hospital, I decided to let him know that you are alive and well.”
Gloria replied calmly:
“Oh, poor thing. He is a very good man. He has a lot of faith.”
When the doctor asked her about the accident, she gave a memorable answer:
"More people should have been saved."
For decades, the wreckage of the plane was considered lost. Only last month, a specialized search team discovered it about 600 meters below the surface of the Atlantic, just a few miles off the northern coast of Puerto Rico.
The discovery of the Clipper Endeavor has brought to light not only one of the early tragedies of civil aviation, but also human stories like that of a man's letter that promised his wife that the flight would be safe - a promise that fate denied just minutes later.
