Once Upon A Time ... A man I didn't know saved a lot of lives but all his family heard was of his plane crash. Now they know the truth. Now they know about the hero that changed lives that day.
October 1997, I was living in Canton, GA with my sister. She was a woman in the Military for roughly 14 years and had tickets to fly the Grand Opening of the Women's Military Memorial in Washington DC. Her mother was going to go but couldn't make it in for the trip so sis asked me. I had to work the day she was flying out so I was flying out the next morning. Sis wanted me to do a dry run to the airport, though I felt it wasn't necessary, because I was still roughly new to the area and I'd be driving up in the dark.
For those unfamiliar with the Atlanta area, you have I-75 running north and south from TN and I-575 starts a pretty good way up but comes down through Canton, Kennesaw and down into Marietta before merging into 75. I worked in Kennesaw and sis worked in Atlanta. As with any city off the side of the interstate, you have your entry/exit area and that one had a large grassy, tree lined area beside the ramp to go into Kennesaw so you really could not see much of the city at that point.
It was still a very warm day, I was in inexpensive foam flipflops and shorts because I was just the rider on this trip and we were going up, turning around and going back home. We took sis's little truck and off we went. The interstate was relatively busy, which wasn't unusual. We weren't bumper to bumper but probably 4-5 car lengths of space between vehicles that were side by side. (It's around Atlanta, yall, I'm sure we had our share of speeders in the fast lane but upon a glance at that time it was more or less what I'm describing.) We had just passed the ramp from Kennesaw onto I-575 when a small plane flew over the interstate. Being a person who often says what she's thinking I say, "He's flying too low" and immediately I'm concerned. I'm not great with distance so I can't tell you how high up he was at this point. Sis said something to the effect of, "There's a small airport near by, he may be circling to land" but I can sense she is feeling what I am feeling. I was drawn to look in my side view mirror, just so I could tell my self, "oh you see...nothing to worry about" ... only I couldn't say that.
In my mirror I saw the tip of the wing of the plane drag across the road from the center of the fast lane through the slow lane and the plane crash into the grass below the trees. I looked over at sis, I said "we have to go back" she saw it too, she was getting into the center grass to turn us around safely. We were back there in moments. We jumped out of the truck, as did so many others who pulled over, and we all ran to the plane. The passenger door was either open or gone completely, it was hard to tell from the flames. I can still remember seeing the seat and being able to see the leg of the pilot on the other side. I tried several times to go help stomp out the flames, to get to the pilot, anything, but my sister pushed me back and told me my feet would be severely burned in the flipflops. I'd also have been in the way, as there were probably 8-10 people that had stopped at this point and one man who had an extinguisher in his truck, all trying to put this fire out. Within 3-4 minutes the fire trucks arrived and PD who we waited patiently to speak with. We saw it happen and I prayed something in our report to them would give the family peace. That man saved us. He was a hero.
That evening, sis got on a plane to go to DC and the next morning I did too. The flashbacks of the previous day's events were terrifying. It's all I could see. We walked around DC in the driving rain because we didn't want to take a car, we just wanted to walk and see things and try to enjoy the trip together. (We didn't grow up together, she and another sis are from dad's first marriage, me and another sis from dad's second and there is an age gap.) We met a wonderful woman at the hotel restaurant. Blessed woman saw two drowned southern mice come in from the street and invited us to sit with her while we talked about every thing that had happened in the last two days. We stayed friends with her for ages. We went to the opening the next day and it was a beautiful and touching experience. We went home. I'll be completely honest in saying, I have no idea how. I'm assuming we flew but I feel like I came in a couple days before she did because of my work schedule. I only remember going immediately to the newspaper boxes, I think at the ATL airport, trying to find anything that talked about the plane crash. I wanted to know who he was. I never found a paper.
Fast forward well over 10 years. The internet has evolved from only being able to access it at Libraries and Internet Cafe's to everyone having it at their fingertips. I thought about the man who saved us. I remembered the year but nothing more. I found information about John Jamgochian Jr, ex military and pilot with hundreds and hundreds of hours flying. I found the report from the airport stating he had the plane recently serviced and upon leaving he had engine trouble. John had radioed in and requested emergency landing clearance. He was circling around to land. I have no doubt in my mind whatsoever that in those last moments he knew he had not gained enough altitude, when he made that turn over the interstate he knew he had to avoid the powerlines and save as many lives as possible in his descent. I know in my heart he planned exactly where to drag the wing knowing he HAD to land in that grass if there was any possibility of survival or at least saving the ones on the interstate and surrounding city. That's exactly what we told the officer, while in tears, and he wrote it as quickly as he could.
One of the things I found that I will link is an article done by Richmond, VA's own Haigh "Jam" Jamgochian done by Style Weekly. The article was from 2006 and mentioned he lost his brother in a plane accident in Cobb County, GA. (Jam was a very accomplished and eclectic Architect. I'd love to see or own some of his buildings or blueprints, honestly.) I searched the internet and found an address in Richmond. I didn't know if my letter would ever reach him but I wrote roughly five pages of every moment I could, no matter how painful it was to remember. I mentioned it all to my sis and she did the same. We felt called to let them know ... John saved our lives that day. He saved the lives of so many people. I can still recall it, it plays out in slow motion every time but after that letter a lot has improved. I couldn't be on the road and see ANY plane near the road (flying over even if it was a dot in the sky) without going into a panic attack and crying. Now I tend to remember and I can feel sadness but thankfulness and move on. It's been 26 years.
Jam couldn't read the letters himself, eyesight failing him. He lived alone at the time he frequented a Veteran facility and one of the women there read every word to him and said she shared it with John's sons and their sister as well. I had left my email address, if he did such things, in the letter and Robin (the woman who helped) emailed me to thank me and sis for the letters. We were friends on facebook for many years but I'd not heard from her in a long time. That brings us to today. When I saw the familiar last name, I found Jam's obituary from 3 years ago. I didn't know he had passed but he was up in years. In fact, next year he would have been 100.
Our letters had given them peace. No one told them what happened. They only got the news he was dead. Our secret hero. Now they know and so does everyone else. SO Thank you John for doing everything you could and saving so many people. And thank you Jam for having Robin respond and let me know you received the mail. I know you're all up there in peace together now.
If you want to leave virtual flowers, they have memorials on Find A Grave:
John Jamgochian Jr
Haigh Jamgochian
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