Last updated: August 24, 2020
Person
Lt. Leon Crane
UAA Archives, Leon Crane Collection
Quick Facts
Significance:
Survived a wilderness plane crash and 81 days below zero
Place of Birth:
Pennsylvania, USA
Date of Birth:
1919
Place of Death:
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Date of Death:
2002
When Crane landed hip-deep in snow, he was suddenly very alone. He repeatedly called “Ho!” at the top of his lungs but the only response was silence. Realizing that he had no idea where he was and no food or sleeping bag, he quickly decided that he must move or freeze to death—the temperature was 40 below zero and would only drop as night fell.
So, after wrapping himself in his silk parachute, he began descending to the river below. The explosion and fire at the crash site had destroyed any supplies he might use, so Crane took stock of his only survival tools: two packs of matches, a Boy Scout knife, and his parachute that served as a sleeping bag. For nine days he huddled in an improvised campsite under a spruce tree where he dreamed of steak, mashed potatoes, and milkshakes and battled feelings of despair. The squirrels he tried to kill skipped away from his makeshift spear, bow and arrow and slingshot, and after nine days of living on nothing but water, he knew his strength would not last.