Other Events and Attributes:

• Military: 12 Jan 1954, United States Air Force; Korean War, Harbor Craft 24th Inf., 34th Service Co. homeward bound for the holidays from Korean service to be killed Friday when a chartered airliner crashed after a takeoff from Seattle, Wash.; Address:
  Korean War
• Accident: Nov 1955; Plane Craash
• Funeral: 1 Dec 1955, Mishicot, Manitowoc, Wisconsin, United States; Address:
  Holy Cross Catholic Church

Notes:

Donald died in a plane crash returning on Christmas leave from the Korean War.

Manitowoc Herald Times November 18, 1955

Donald G. Tuma Among Soldiers Killed In Crash County Family Had Talked by Telephone With Korea Returnee

TWO RIVERS - Pfc. Donald G. Tuma, 20, son of Mr. and Mrs. Doolan Tuma of Rt. 2, Two Rivers, residing just north of Larrabee on Highway Q, was among 27 soldiers homeward bound for the holidays from Korean service to be killed Friday when a chartered airliner crashed after a takeoff from Seattle, Wash.

Tuma was listed among the 27 dead in an Associated Press dispatch from Seattle.
The Tuma family said Saturday morning that it received a call Friday from the young soldier that he had arrived in Seattle and was planning to fly home immediately. Up to 11 a.m. Saturday the family received no official government announcement of the youth's death, however.
Tuma entered the service nearly two years ago and served more than 18 months with the U. S. Army in Korea. He would have had another year to serve before his discharge.
Donald Tuma was born in the Town of Gibson on Oct. 10, 1935, and was graduated from Mishicot High School with the class of 1953. In high school he took an active part in the Future Farmers of America program. Besides his parents he leaves two sisters, Janice and Joanne at home, and six brothers, James of Manitowoc arid Richard, Wayne, Gregory, Peter and Paul Tuma on the home farm.


SEATTLE (AP) Government investigators met here today to begin the work of piecing together the broken fragments of a wrecked airliner and the stories of the people who saw it die. This much they knew.
Twenty-seven men died when a big Peninsular Air Transport Co., plane bounced to explosive destruction early yesterday in the backyard of a suburban home. And 47 other persons, including a woman and three small children, survived.
There were some discrepancies in the accounts of eyewitnesses and men who were in the plane as passengers or pilots. And the only sizable remaining piece of the once large DC4 is its tail surface, still resting in a charred backyard amidst a rubble of melted and twisted metal.
The investigators said they had no preconceived notions what caused the Miami-based plane to falter two miles south of Boeing Field, its takeoff point, hit a tree, a utility pole, and a garage and then break up and burn in the backyard of the Colin Dearing home.
But sabotage, which caused the destruction of a United Air Lines plane near Longmont, Colo., with a loss of 44 lives carry this month, seemed unlikely to David Nelson, supervising agent for the Seattle office of the Civil Aeronautics Administration.

Engine Trouble Reported
Richard D. Auerbach, special agent in charge of the Seattle Federal Bureau of Investigation Office, said his office had found nothing to indicate the likelihood of sabotage.
Two men who watched the plane's final few yards of flight, said its engines were failing and one had even quit. E. J. Rice who was close enough to feel the heat of the flames when the plane's heavily loaded gas tanks exploded with dreadful results said the engines were "poppin' and sputtering."
Herbert Gardiner said one of the engines sounded flat and no exhaust was visible from another.
Fred Hall, copilot from Miami, agreed one engine had given trouble "right after the takeoff." But he said, "the other three engines were functioning perfectly. That's enough to get that type of plane up without too much trouble."
He couldn't say, though, why the plane began to settle in a matter of seconds after the takeoff instead of gaining the altitude it needed so badly to clear the hill south of the runway.

Accident:
Donald G. Tuma Among Soldiers Killed In Crash County Family Had Talked by Telephone With Korea Returnee

TWO RIVERS – Pfc. Donald G. Tuma, 20, son of Mr. and Mrs. Doolan Tuma of Rt. 2, Two Rivers, residing just north of Larrabee on Highway Q, was among 27 soldiers homeward bound for the holidays from Korean service to be killed Friday when a chartered airliner crashed after a takeoff from Seattle, Wash. Tuma was listed among the 27 dead in, an Associated Press dispatch from Seattle.

The Tuma family said Saturday morning that it received a call Friday from the young soldier that he had arrived in Seattle and was planning to fly home immediately. Up to 11 a.m. Saturday the family received no official government announcement of the youth’s death, however. Tuma entered the service nearly two years ago and served more than 18 months with the U. S. Army in Korea. He would have had another year to serve before his discharge.

Donald Tuma was born in the Town of Gibson on Oct. 10, 1935, and was graduated from Mishicot High School with the class of 1953. In high school he took an active part in the Future Farmers of America program.

Besides his parents he leaves two sisters, Janice and Joanne at home, and six brothers, James of Manitowoc and Richard, Wayne, Gregory, Peter and Paul Tuma on the home farm.


Experts Study Crash
SEATTLE (AP) – Government investigators met here today to begin the work of piecing together the broken fragments of a wrecked airliner and the stories of the people who saw it die.

This much they knew.

Twenty-seven men died when a big Peninsular Air Transport Co., plane bounced to explosive destruction early yesterday in the backyard of a suburban home. And 47 other persons, including a woman and three small children, survived.

There were some discrepancies in the accounts of eyewitnesses and men who were in the plane – as passengers or pilots. And the only sizable remaining piece of the once large DC4 is its tail surface, still resting in a charred backyard amidst a rubble of melted and twisted metal. The investigators said they had no preconceived notions what caused the Miami-based plane to falter two miles south of Boeing Field, its takeoff point, hit a tree, a utility pole, and a garage and then break up and burn in the backyard of the Colin Dearing home. But sabotage, which caused the destruction of a United Air Lines plane near Longmont, Colo., with a loss of 44 lives carry this month, seemed unlikely to David Nelson, supervising agent for the Seattle office of the Civil Aeronautics Administration.

*****

Engine Trouble Reported Richard D. Auerbach, special agent incharge of the Seattle Federal Bureau of Investigation Office, said his office had found nothing to indicate the likelihood of sabotage. Two men who watched the plane’s final few yards of flight, said its engines were failing and one had even quit. E. J. Rice who was close enough to feel the heat of the flames when the plane’s heavily loaded gas tanks exploded with dreadful results said the engines were “poppin’ and sputtering.” Herbert Gardiner said one of the engines sounded flat and no exhaust was visible from another. Fred Hall, copilot from Miami, agreed one engine had given trouble "right after the takeoff.” But he said, “the other three engines were functioning perfectly. That's enough to get that type of plane up without too much trouble." He couldn’t say, though, why the plane began to settle in a matter of seconds after the takeoff instead of gaining the altitude it needed so badly to clear the hill south of the runway.

Funeral:
Wednesday Service for Crash Victim

MISHICOT-Military funeral rites for Pfc. Donald G. Tuma, 20-year-old soldier, son of Mr. and Mrs. Doolan Tuma, R.2, Two Rivers, will be held here Wednesday morning.

Tuma, one of a family of nine children, was among 27 killed Nov. 18 in the fiery crash of an eastbound airliner in a suburban residental district only two miles from its Boeing Field take-off point. Forty-seven other persons survived the crash.

The Manitowoc County soldier, on his way home for a Thanksgiving furlough after 18 months in Korea, had called his parents upon arrival in Seattle only a day before the fatal crash, informing them of his intention to fly home immediately.

With Tuma's body scheduled to arrive in Manitowoc today, the requiem mass is planned for Holy Cross Catholic Church, Mishicot, at 10 a.m. Wednesday. The Rev. George Beth, pastor, will be the celebrant. Burial will be in Holy Cross Cemetery.

The mass will follow brief rites at the Specht Funeral Home here. A graveside military service will be conducted by members of the local Kempen-Staudinger-Terens Post 7753, Veterans of Foreigh Wars. Friends may call at the funeral home from 7 o'clock this evening.

Born in Two Rivers, Oct. 10, 1935, Tuma moved with his parents to a town of Gibson farm when a boy of six. He graduated from Mishicot High School in 1953 and while at school was active if in Future Farmers of America.

He entered the military service two years ago and would have had another year to service before discharge.

Surviving, in addition to his parents, are two sisters, the Misses Janice and Joanne, both at home; and six brothers, James, Rt. 2, Manitowoc, and Richard, Wayne, Gregory, Peter and Paul, all at home.


********
Likely from a different paper
Because of the delay in the arrival of the casket, due to a rock slide on state of Washington railroad tracks, funeral services for Pfc. Donald G. Tuma, 20, Town of Gibson, who was killed in a crash of an Army transport plane at Seattle, Wash., on Nov. 18, will be held at Mishicot Thursday morning instead of Wednesday. Military services, to be conducted by the Kempen-Staudinger-Terens Post 7755, VFW, Mishicot, will be held at 9:30 a.m. at the Specht Funeral Home, Mishicot, and at 10 a.m. at Holy Cross Catholic Church, Mishicot. The Rev. George Beth will officiate and interment will be in Holy Cross Cemetery, Mishicot. Friends may call at the funeral home after 7 p.m. Tuesday where the Rosary will be recited at 8 p.m. Tuesday and 8 p.m. Wednesday. (No newspaper named or date)



Buried:
Name: Donald G Tuma
Birth Date:10 Oct 1935
Service Number: RA 16 454 898
Unit: Harbor Craft 24th Inf, 34th Service Co. Unagsgd organ over, Inf Regt
Enlistment Date: 12 Jan 1954
Death Date: 18 Nov 1955
Cemetery: Holy Cross Cemetery
Cemetery Location: Mishicot, Wisconsin, USA