The Montenegro Family A story of the Second World War and Liberation
By : Maria Montenegro Faith Eighty years ago, today, on December 13, 1945, a U.S. military plane took off from an airstrip outside of Dumaguete (on the island of Negros in the Philippines) carrying members of the U.S. 13th AF Squadron along with 19 civilians, including my grandfather, Jose Antonio Montenegro, my great-grandmother, Asuncion Abad Martinez, my grandfather’s sister, Maria Antonia Morro, and her baby girl, Christina Morro. Though it was a violation of U.S. regulations to be carrying civilian passengers, this was the era before commercial air travel between Negros and Manila and there had been four years of brutal hostilities. According to the accident investigation report filed by the U.S. military nine months later when the wreckage was finally found, weather conditions had been poor and the plane was overloaded with passengers and cargo. During the ascent, the plane suffered engine failure and tragically crashed into Mt. Madalagan, 600 feet f...
