This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Classification: Death Message Board URL: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/rw/JW.2ADE/7902 Message Board Post: Crash Snuffs Out Two Young lives Two young Missouri ex-servicemen, Tommy G. Landers and Shelby J. Langston, both 24, lost their lives in a collision with a truck tank and trailer at 2:40 a.m. Tuesday, 14 miles east of Mojave on Hwy. 466. Force of the collision tore off the right rear double wheels of the trailer and they rolled 300 yds. before coming to rest in the desert. The car, a 1947 Chevrolet was a total loss although the driver, Jim Lee Skaggs, 22, of Senaca, Mo., walked away with a couple of scratches. Both victims had just been separated from the U. S. Army at Camp Stoneman and presumably were headed home according to Highway Patrol Officer, Kenneth De La Marr who investigated, no reason for the crash has been found as yet. Bud Palmer of Bud's Garage, who towed in the wreck, had to use an acetylene torch to release the victims from the wreck. Fire equipment from Edwards A.F.B. was called when a fire started in the wreck from the flames of the torch coming in contact with a quantity of paint carried in the death vehicle. Driver of the truck, which was a owned by Empire Transportation Co., was Charles Roberts Clark of 1893 So. Union Ave., Bakersfield. Edwards ambulance took all victims to the Base Hospital and the two bodies were later removed to O'Donnell Funeral Home by their ambulance. The body of Tommy Landers was shipped to Gainville, Mo., and that of Shelby Langston to Mesa, Arizona, for services and interment. Posted by East Kern Genealogical Society Courtesy of Mojave Desert News California City, Kern, CA Published: 24 Jun 1954