On a warm, sunny September afternoon, Paula Ashmore finally arrives at a towering cross in the countryside of Cusco, Peru. Protected by an awning, the stone cross, about 10 feet tall, is surrounded by red potted flowers. A string of triangular flags flutters in a gentle breeze.
This special memorial in the San Jeronimo district of Cusco includes a plaque with the names of 99 people — including 49 American exchange students — who perished in a plane crash here in Peru on Aug. 9, 1970. Ashmore’s older sister Vicki, at just 14 years old, was one of those exchange students.
For decades, Ashmore, now 60 and who lives in Dacula, has searched to learn more about her sister's life as a young exchange student in Peru. Three years ago, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution wrote a Personal Journey about the quest in a piece titled "Missing Vicki." In 2015, after spending months sorting through her deceased mother's belongings, Ashmore found a bright pink calendar from Peru in a cedar chest. The discovery was the breakthrough that helped Ashmore connect with Vicki's host sister, a Peruvian woman who now lives in California. The Personal Journey also explored the close relationship between Ashmore and Vicki.
Just two years apart in age, they were as close as two sisters could be.
Growing up in a tiny brick bungalow near Agnes Scott College in the late 1950s, they shared a makeshift bedroom in the attic where they loved to play school. They would push their twin beds to one side of the room and turn the center of the space into a classroom, complete with chalkboard, square wooden table and two chairs.
Whether she was playing school or orchestrating a talent show with kids in her Decatur neighborhood, Vicki always took charge, and Ashmore was her faithful follower.
READ: The Personal Journey - Missing Vicki
And now, 48 years after the plane crash, Ashmore took another huge step in her striving to learn more about her sister’s last days. With tears in her eyes, Ashmore could barely believe she was there, a place she’s only seen in grainy photographs or in more recent years, in snapshots posted online by other family members of those who died in the crash.
“I never felt closer to Vicki in all these years,” said Ashmore in a recent interview. “I was crying. I was emotional, but I was happy to be there.”
Ashmore, who speaks Spanish and worked as an interpreter at Gwinnett Medical Center, had long wanted to go to Peru but kept putting it off. After retiring earlier this year, she decided the time had come. She traveled to Peru with a group travel company, visiting Lima and other sites with about a dozen tourists.
She also made arrangements for a private tour guide to visit the memorial. Over the years, the memorial has been moved at least once, and there is little to no information online on the exact location of the cross.
As it turned out, her guide, Edgar Cruz, had a personal connection to the crash. The guide’s mother had a family member, a boy who was the child of farmers, who was nearly hit by a hurtling tire from the doomed airplane. The child, who was 8 years old, was never the same afterward, and died a couple of years later.
Cruz said he felt like it was meant to be for him to help Paula Ashmore find the site of the crash. His father accompanied them on the trip.
“My parents were witnesses of the event,” he said in an email in Spanish. “And when I visited the place of events, I felt connected to what had happened as if it was destiny for me to be asked to help Ms. Paula. We were able to find the exact place and the cross. I think for Paula it gave her a sense of accomplishment and peace, and she felt close to her sister.”
During her visit, she learned more about the crash. She learned that the plane, while crashing into a mountain, actually landed in a field. Cruz and his father told her about how the community, watching the remnants of the plane burn for days, mourned the loss of life.
Ashmore was touched by the kindness of the Peruvian people. The hotel where she stayed delivered a card and sunflowers to her hotel room. As Ashmore explored Peru, eating ceviche, sipping pisco sours, she thought about Vicki. When she visited Machu Picchu, the magnificent ruins of a 15th-century Incan city, she thought about her sister walking there almost 50 years ago, when, locals told her, there were no steps, only a dirt path to climb the ruins.
Vicki was eager to experience other cultures. In 1969, when Vicki heard about International Fellowship Inc., a cultural exchange organization offering high school students the opportunity to live and learn in Peru for three months, she attended a meeting at the Decatur library to learn more.
A little more than a year later, Vicki left for Peru. She never returned, and Ashmore’s life would never be the same.
Shortly after takeoff, the pilot of the Lockheed Electra propjet of LANSA Airlines radioed the Cusco airport to say he was returning to Cusco.
At some point during the takeoff or initial climb, one of the plane’s four engines had caught fire.
As the plane turned around, it lost altitude and smashed into a mountain, bursting into flames. There were 100 people aboard, including the 49 American students. Two farmworkers were killed on the ground. The sole survivor, the 26-year-old co-pilot, was found in the wreckage, badly burned.
Bodies and wreckage were scattered for 600 yards. Many of the students’ bodies were clad in brightly colored ponchos, likely mementos purchased at Machu Picchu. A Peruvian government investigation concluded the accident was likely caused by several factors, including poor maintenance of the plane and mishandling of the engine failure.
On the “CBS Evening News” on Aug. 10, 1970, Walter Cronkite described the American students as “the best we have.”
“These 49 young Americans did not make trouble. They held a curiosity for a world,” he said.
They were club presidents, choir members, scholars, star athletes. They ranged in age from 14 to 18. Most of them hailed from New York. Just two were from metro Atlanta: Vicki and Joetta Marie Burkett, fellow classmates at Walker High School in DeKalb County (the school is now McNair).
And now on this September afternoon, after so many years, Ashmore sat at the base of the cross for well over an hour. A golden-haired dog slept at the base of the cross.
Ashmore was glad to see locals taking good care of the memorial. Vicki’s name was etched into stone but hard to read, faded over time. The guide’s father found some burnt wood and crushed it into the name, helping Vicki’s name be highlighted in the stone.
For Ashmore, the trip was a way to honor and remember her big sister. It was another way to connect to Vicki, who would have turned 63 on this day, Nov. 15, 2018. Ashmore hopes to return one day soon with her younger sister, Jeannie Manning, who lives in Seattle.
MORE: A look back at some of our most popular Personal Journeys and what's new
“Ever since 1970, whenever I heard the word ‘Peru,’ I felt a sense of loss and sadness; the word ‘Cusco’ even more so,” said Ashmore. “I know that while she was there, Vicki fell in love with the people, the culture and the ancient Incan legends. Now that I’ve visited Peru, I understand why, and I feel a strong attachment for the country and its people. Everyone I met there was warm, welcoming and friendly, especially Edgar Cruz and his father. They treated me with loving kindness — like a long-lost friend or relative — and now we share a connection that I have with no one else. So my trip was everything I hoped for and more. Happy memories come to mind now when I think of Peru and Cusco.”
About the Author
