TRUMAN J. GARDNER KILLED IN HAWAII:

Truman J. Gardner, age 26, private in the United States Army Air Corps at Ford Island, Hawaii, was killed instantly last Saturday morning in a bombing plane accident which proved fatal to five others also.  Private Gardner was the son of City Commissioner and Mrs. Hugh Gardner.

Two bombing planes were in the act of completing night field maneuvers at Ford Island, on which is located air bases of both the Army and the Navy. The air ships collided in mid-air five hundred feet above the flying field.

Spiraling and spinning to the ground, the planes crashed and burst into flames frightfully close to large tanks of gasoline. A lieutenant and a sergeant escaped with their lives by taking to their parachutes.

Private Gardner was graduated from Olney High School in the Class of 1927. He enlisted in the National Guard, Company L. at Lawrenceville. In September, 1933, he resigned with the rank of corporal and joined the Army Air Corps at Chanute Field, Rantoul, Illinois.

About six months later, he was transferred from Chanute Field to the Hawaii station at Ford Island. At both Chanute Field and Ford Island he was in charge of a school of instruction for new recruits.

Surviving are his parents and two brothers, Oris and Hobart Gardner and one sister, Miss Eva Gardner.

Published in Olney Advocate (IL) - January 30, 1936