I hapened upon this site because I was trying to remember the date of the helicopter crash in Derry. I was wondering, because a helicopter dropping golf balls onto a golf course for a charity raffle crashed close to where I now live last Friday. (Unlike Derry, the balls were dropped over an empty green area, the closest numbered ball to the pin wins) The two people in the helicopter were the only ones injured. I immediatly thought that this was almost 30 years to the day from the Derry Incident.

I was 17 at the time of the Derry crash, and had I not been at a family picnic on the other side of the county, I would have been at St Joseph's that day. I worked at the time as a photographer for the Latrobe Bulletin, the closest paper to the Derry Area. Upon returning from the picnic and learning of the accident, I went to the scene to see what was happening. I was surprised to see that by evening the scene was virtually deserted. The remains of the helicopter were tightly covered with tarps and roped off, but literally no one was around, I drove to within 15 feet of the wreckage.

I knew many of the people affected, One of the victims was a teacher at our high school. Some were students. A local man that I remained friends with for years was on the helicopter with his daughter, neither was injured but his wife on the ground was killed. Even the newspaper accounts (my boss at the paper lived in Derry) were vaugue and restrained. There really seemed to be a reluctance to accept or acknowledge what happened. At the time, the closest ambulances were located at Latrobe Hospital (7 miles south) and Blairsville (9 miles north). This lack of a local ambulance response led to the formation of the Derry Area Ambulance Service in 1980.

I was a founding member and one of the first paramedics to work for the service. I always found it odd that a group of volunteers working to help the community met so much resistance. Many prominent people fought against the service. After looking at things from ridgerunner's perspective, maybe they were against a cause that was born from a tragedy they wanted to forget. The service was a success, growing from responding to 600 calls the first year to over 3000 a year when I "retired" in 1990.

I later became involved in Derry Borough politics (having moved into the Borough from the Township after getting married) because of the stagnant nature of the community and the unfriendly reputation it had gained. I again saw first hand the way residents overreact. I was an outsider and spoke my mind and had many supporters. However, those who were against me went to great lengths to oppose me. I could never understand why some people would lie and plot to oppose someone that was just trying to make the town better, but maybe ridgerunner's theory may explain it. I'd be glad to talk more about my experiences to those interested, just ask.