FT. BRAGG, N.C. - Medical authorities say an Iowa paratrooper suffocated as the result of the more than three hours he dangled from a troop carrier plane over his military post Tuesday.
SPfc. Wayne H. Flugum, 23, Leland, Iowa, was dead when he was cut loose from the huge C123 transport as it skimmed only inches above a runway greased with foam to cut down possible injury.
During the preceding three hours, three crew members had worked valiantly to free Flugum, whose parachute became entangled in the static line left by previous jumpers during a routine airborne excercise.
The medial report said he had been dead from 30 minutes to two hours before his body was landed. Flugum was about the 18th of some 36 paratroopers who jumped from the plane.
The crewmen almost pulled the pleading Flugum to safety once, but the slipstream pulled him from their grasp.
A jet plane tried to help by flying under the troop carrier and nudging the dangling paratrooper with a wing tank. The idea was to nudge him from under the plane and make it easier to pull him up. However, Flugum at that time was either unconscious or dead and couldn't help himself.
The three working to pull Flugum into the plane were 2nd Lt. George Havlinek, of Two Rivers, Wis., Sgt. Salvidor Zumudio of San Antonio, Tex., and A.2.C. George Nash of Paola, Kan. The pilot, 1st Lieut. Thomas Ansberry of Urbana, Ohio, kept the plane circling over the drop zone.
The men worked through the large open door with parachutes on but with safety straps. Havlinek related Flugum "was pleading with me while he was still alive out there, to please bring him in."
That was when the paratrooper was almost to safety. Havlinek said he had hold of Flugum's left wrist. "I pulled until I couldn't any more and finally had to let him go. We were all sweating and he was too, and it was a very poor grasp that we all had."
The decision to spray foam on the runway was made when the big plane's engines overheated, making a landing necessary.
As the plane skimmed over the foam, the paratrooper was cut loose. He slid through the foam for about 100 feet. Ground crewmen ran to him, but he was dead.
( The Oelwein Daily Register (Iowa); 12 Jun 1957, page 1 and 2 )