VIDEO: They called it âthe umbrella of death.â Between December 1951 and February 1952, three planes crashed in Elizabeth a few weeks apart, killing a total of 119 people.
The family of one of the victims is giving back to first responders to commemorate the 70th anniversary of those crashes.
âIt took the top of the third floor and landed on our house,â said Augustine Caruso.
Caruso stood on the same spot where 70 years ago, as a 13-year-old boy, he returned from an errand at the bakery to find an American Airlines plane had crashed into his familyâs home. Carusoâs other Rosa was pulled from the burning rubble and died 12 days later.
âIt makes my stomach turn,â he says.
The Jan. 22 crash was the second of three separate crashes in Elizabeth over nine weeks â events that impacted hundreds of families.
