Patterson Cemetery District, Stanislaus County, CA 

Submitted by Gale Stroud and Burta Herger 26 Aug 2007

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Hopper George 440630 p2
Two Fatally Hurt When Truck Overturns: George Hopper; Crows Landing, June 26. -- An overturned truck that
immediately burst into flames on Sunday afternoon brought death to a sailor and a 14-year-old boy and inflicted severe
burns on the driver of the vehicle. The tragic accident occurred at the Isom turn a mile east of here when the truck went
out of control either because of the shifting of the load of lettuce or a locked brake. Headed towards Modesto, the truck
capsized about 75 feet east of the sharp turn. The dead sailor is George Hopper, 19, stationed at the Crows Landing
Auxiliary Naval Air Station. He was rushed to the Hammand General Hospital at Modesto and died of his injuries and
burns at four o'clock the next morning. The second victim was Dale Smith, nephew of Hugh Smith who was driving the
truck. The boy was taken to the West Side Hospital at Newman suffering from third degree burns over his entire body. He
passed away at eight o'clock Tuesday morning. Also in the same hospital, seriously burned, is the uncle. The three were
pulled from the flaming cab by passersby soon after the crash and ambulances summoned.  Mrs. Smith came at once from
the Watsonville home of the family and stated that her husband had come in from a trip at 1:30 that morning and had
been called to make a rush delivery of lettuce to East Side points. When informed that a sailor had been a passenger, she
was under the impression that he was the brother of young Dale. The brother is at the Crows Landing station and had
asked that his uncle look him up when driving by. Dale was born at Amarillo, Texas, and had been in California for a
year and a half, attending high school. The remains were taken to Gilroy where funeral services to be held.