Harold D. Shumard

Their Story

Harold D. Shumard was born on March 20, 1925, in Tulsa, Oklahoma, the son of Clyde Lester and Maudie Nancy Maice Shumard. His father died on September 9, 1979, and his mother died on June 18, 1979.¹

Shumard married Ellen Blaine Stevenson in 1954.² They had three children, two sons and one daughter. Ellen was a second lieutenant in the U.S. Air Force during the Korean War.³

Shumard enlisted in the U.S. Army on February 25, 1943. He flew 50 missions over Germany during World War II and 51 missions over North Korea.⁴ Captain Shumard was awarded the Airman’s Medal and the Distinguished Flying Cross.⁵

Captain Shumard, on October 29, 1957, was among sixteen airmen who died when a U.S. Air Force KC-97G four-motored tanker plane hit Gray Mountain, 40 miles north of Flagstaff, Arizona, during a flight originating from Walker Air Force Base in New Mexico.⁶ Gray Mountain is located on the southeastern edge of the Grand Canyon. The mountain is 1,000 feet above the surrounding land and the plane hit on the east side. Shumard was the aircraft commander.⁷

The Boeing KC-97 is the refueling tanker version of the C-97 Stratofreighter, a 74-ton multi-purpose airplane combining both transport and aerial refueling tanker capabilities. The Air National Guard, the Military Air Transport, and the Strategic Air Command flew this aircraft during the 1950s through the 1970s. The KC-97G version of the Stratofreighter was equipped to serve as an aerial refueling tanker.⁸

Funeral services were held on November 2, 1957, for Harold D. Shumard at Walker Air Force Chapel in Roswell, New Mexico. He was survived by his wife, Ellen; three children, two sons and one daughter; four uncles, Chester Shumard, Albert Shumard, Dan Strickland, and Ray Strickland; and four aunts, Clarice Harriman, Esther Collins, Sarah McDonald, and Edna Hogue.⁹