Highlights of History from The Whitehorse Star

The Whitehorse Pioneer Cemetery

The Whitehorse Star - Monday, July 15, 1963

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    Four Whitehorse RCMP officers and a prisoner were killed Saturday evening when a Beaver aircraft crashed and burned in Carmacks.

    Dead are pilot Sgt. K. M. Laughland, in his early thirties; Cpl. R. W. Asbil, 29; Const. P. L. A. Malcolm, 29; Const. W. J. L. Annand, 27, and prisoner Joseph Phillipe Clement Desormeaux, 56.

    Desormeaux was a time-serving prisoner who had appeared as a witness in a contested court case at Mayo and was being returned to Whitehorse when the crash occurred.

    The Whitehorse Air detachment RCMP aircraft CF-MPO was apparently landing in Carmacks on police business. It crashed in a bank just below the Mayo Road at a location approximately inbetween the Territorial Garage and the Carmacks bridge.

    Police said the crash happened about 8:10 p.m. No cause for the accident has been established but a Department Transport investigating team has been flown in from Edmonton to search the wreckage.

    Word of the mishap shook the Yukon because the men were well-known to many residents. The Whitehorse Star joins those grieving today as a consequence of the tragic death of the men.

    One year ago, four men died in a plane crash on a mountainside about 25 miles south of Whitehorse, Pilot Jim Thatcher and passengers George Bodnaryk, Bob Davis and Frank Martin were flying in a Cessna 180. That mishap occurred about the same time of night as the Carmacks crash. It was on July 18.

    Police said present indications do not point toward an inquest but a police board of inquiry will be conducted.

    Laughland's parents live at Underhill, Man. Asbil's parents are at Rawson, Quebec; Malcolm's mother is at Manchester, Conn.; Annand's parents are at Summerstown, Ont. and Desormeaux's wife lives in Winnipeg. Laughland, Asbil and Malcolm are also married.

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A joint memorial service for the four RCMP members will be held at 10 a.m. Tuesday either in the Anglican or United Church. Further announcements will be carried over CBC radio.
    It is expected that a funeral service for Sgt. Laughland will be held in Whitehorse later this week while the bodies of Cpl. Asbil, Const. Malcolm and Const. Annand are being shipped out to their respective homes.

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The Whitehorse Star - Thursday, July 18, 1963

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    Christ Church Cathedral was filled to standing room only Tuesday when citizens paid tribute to four RCMP officers killed in the ill-fated airplane crash at Carmacks last Saturday.

    The joint memorial service was conducted by Rev. A. L. Privett of the Anglican Church and Rev. H. P. Marston of the United Church. Choirs of the two churches combined for the service.

    Parading in uniform were RCMP members, Canadian Army and Royal Canadian Air Force.

    Inspector J. L. Vachon, on behalf of members of the police subdivision, expressed thanks to the hundreds of persons who have either written and personally contacted policemen conveying their condolances.

    Funerals for the officers will be held Outsids Friday and Saturday. All of them are full RCMP funerals.

    Sgt. K. M. Laughland's funeral service will be held at 1:30 p.m. Saturday at Nanaimo with burial at Cedar, B.C. Cpl. R. W. Asbil's service will be held at Rawdon, Que. either Friday or Saturday. Exact time is unknown. Const. P. L. A. Malcolm's funeral will be at 1:30 p, m. Friday at Lethbridge with burial to follow at the RCMP Mountainview cemetery nearby. Const. W. J. D. Annand's funeral service will be held at 2:30 p. m. Friday at Summerstown, Ont.

    The prisoner on the flight, Joseph Phillipe Clement Desormeaux, was buried Monday in Whitehorse cemetery.

    Meanwhile, RCMP Inspector G. R. Hamelin of Edmonton, officer commanding Western Operations, is in the Yukon making his investigation of the accident. He will remain here fora few more days, police said.