Free Still Missing: Rethinking the D.B. Cooper Case and Other Mysterious Unsolved Disappearances by Ross Richardson Page B

hungry. They also, like many others, developed a mistrust of banks, and the banking system.
    In April of 1942, John Sr. joined the countless young men and women of his generation who joined the armed forces to defend our nation against Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan. He selected the U.S. Army Air Force. During the war, like many soldiers of his ilk, he wore many hats and preformed many tasks.
    He was a heavy truck driver and an inspector, whose responsibility was to check the mechanical work done on jeeps, trucks and tanks. He saw action as a dispatcher in combat areas. Using this skill, he dispatched various vehicles to numerous hot spots. Later in the war, he was trained as a firefighter and drove and operated a crash truck at the airfield, skills that would form the direction of his post military career. On October 19 of 1945, Block received an honorable discharge and the thank-yous of friends and family for his heroic service. He returned to the Detroit area and began looking forward to the future.
    Just a couple short weeks after entering civilian life, on November 3, 1945, John Block and Jean Mills were wed in holy matrimony in Wayne County, Michigan. John was 25 years old and Jean was 23.
    Following the marriage, Block found work almost immediately at the U.S. Army Tank Automotive Command in Warren, Michigan. Armed with a solid work ethic and a quiet yet confident demeanor, he worked his way up the chain of command and eventually achieved the position of Fire Chief.
    The couple had two sons in the 1940s, Michael, the elder son, and John, who was born a few years later. During 1950s and 1960s, the Block family lived a typical all-American life. Jean managed the household and played organ and was a member of the Altar Society at the St. Leonard’s Parish in Warren, while John Sr. built his career at the U.S. Army Tank Automotive Command. Son Michael excelled in sports. At that time, the Detroit area was a thriving metropolis, booming due to concentration of “the Big Three’s” automotive manufacturing. All in all, the Block family was just a quiet, typical all-American family.
    The morning of July 4, 1977, John and Jean loaded their freshly packed luggage into their almost new Ford Ranchero. The plane was to fly from suburban Detroit to Northern Michigan, and there, the Blocks planned to spend some time with their two sons. Mike was in Luzerne, a tiny town about 25 miles East of Grayling, with his wife, whose parents lived there. They would also take time visit their son John, now living in Traverse City.
    Around 11:10 a.m., John and Jean Block arrived at the airport and loaded their luggage and boarded their Cessna 150, a small two-seater airplane, and departed Macomb County Airport in New Haven, Michigan, which is about 35 miles north and slightly east of downtown Detroit, and headed north. Their destination was to be Lost Creek Sky Ranch Airport in Luzerne, Michigan. The distance to their destination was about 190 miles, which they should have been able to cover in less than two hours.
    More than thirty years after his parents’ disappearance, John Block Jr. solemnly recalls the details of that fateful day:
     
We spent the day with friends on Spider Lake. We swam in the lake. It was just a beautiful day. We had an outdoor picnic of hotdogs and hamburgers. We sat on the deck and I remember watching the sunset, it was just a completely perfect, picture perfect holiday.
We went home and got a phone call, of course this was before cell phones, from my brother who asked, “Did mom and dad change their minds and fly to Traverse City? Are they there with you?”
I responded, “No, why?”
“Well, they haven’t shown up yet and it’s dark,” he said. “We’ve been waiting at the airport and we’re wondering what’s going on.”
“Well, I’ll go back into work to start a search and use the assets there, you know, radio and teletypes, and get some advice and help,” I responded.
We knew there was an issue,