Ruth stayed beside him until the end. When the aircraft struck a drainage ditch, the front landing gear collapsed. The left wing broke away, and the fuselage split near the galley.”
He swallowed hard.
“Ruth was sitting right there.”
The accident killed her instantly.
Dad had spent nearly fifty years wondering whether she suffered.
“She was twenty-four,” he whispered. “She had an entire life ahead of her.”
Tears rolled down my cheeks.
“Dad, you saved fifty-two people.”
“I know. But for years, whenever anyone mentioned those fifty-two, all I could
