Word: bayh
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Although the pilot and Teddy's aide, Edward Moss, were killed in the crash, the Kennedy luck stretched far enough to cover his other traveling companions, Indiana Senator and Mrs. Birch Bayh. Strapped down by their seat belts, the Bayhs suffered torn back muscles, but they were saved from serious or fatal injuries. What puzzled the doctors, though, was how the Senator had been able to help Kennedy get away from the wreck. Once he got to the hospital and had time to realize how badly he had been banged up, Bayh was in too much pain to move...
Suddenly the plane soared into a steep, desperate climb, shook violently, plunged and crashed. There was a moment of deep, terrifying silence: everyone aboard was stunned or dying. Birch Bayh recovered before the others. "My first thought," he said later, "was that the plane had been hit by lightning." He looked cautiously about. "I saw black things outside my window," he recalled. In his shock, it took him a while to notice the black things were trees, that the Aero Commander had crashed-as it turned out, in an apple orchard on a hill three miles short of the airport...
Fearful that the wreckage would burst into flames, Bayh hurriedly boosted his wife through an escape hatch, which popped open on impact. Then he called for Teddy, who was crumpled on the floor. Bayh got no answer and climbed out the hatch himself. Again, he yelled to Teddy. This time Kennedy answered, managed to reach his hand through the hatch, and Bayh helped him wriggle through the window. Moss and Pilot Zimny-both horribly injured-were trapped in the cockpit, which had been sliced apart as if by a huge can opener...
...Grass. Teddy lay helplessly on the wet grass, beneath Mrs. Bayh's raincoat. The Bayhs staggered down the hill to a road, stopped a car driven by Robert Schauer, who had been attracted by the sound of the crash. He took them to his home, called the police, returned immediately with a pillow and blankets for Teddy. Said Schauer: "When I got to the plane, Senator Kennedy was still there. He was cool as a cucumber. He said he had shoulder and back injuries...
...Parents. Teddy Kennedy had suffered two fractured ribs, three broken vertebrae, and assorted cuts and bruises. He would probably be out of action for quite a while, but there were no neurological injuries, no paralysis, no immediate need for surgery. Marvella Bayh was in good condition; Senator Bayh had a severe muscle strain. But Ed Moss, one of Teddy's ablest, most faithful friends, died of brain injuries during surgery. Zimny had died before help came...