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Lloyd Buresh

 

Date and Place of Birth: April 18, 1933 Karlin, MO
Date and Place of Death:    August 26, 1955 near Cushing, TX
Baseball Experience: Amateur
Position: Third Base
Rank: Airman First Class
Military Unit: 3530th Air Base Group Squadron, USAF
Area Served: United States

Lloyd D. Buresh, the son of Walter and Genevieve "Ted" Buresh, was born on April 18, 1933 in Karlin (about 4 miles south of Bolivar), Missouri.

Buresh, grew up in Benton Township, Polk County, Missouri, and served as an Airman First Class with the 3530th Air Base Group Squadron, USAF, stationed at Bryan Air Force Base, Texas. A third baseman, Buresh played for the Bryan AFB Bulldogs who played two games a week in the Bryan City League in 1955.

On August 26, 1955, as a member of the Bryan AFB baseball team, 22-year-old Buresh was traveling on the team bus to take part in a tournament at Barksdale AFB in Shreveport, Louisiana. About three miles from Cushing, Texas, their bus blew a tire and plunged over a 30-foot embankment into a dry creek.

The injured managed to crawl out the windows or were helped out by rescuers. Trapped in the wreckage and fatally injured were Lloyd Buresh and the driver of the bus, A/1c James C. Kirkpatrick of Buff City, Tennessee. Both died at a Nacogdoches hospital shortly afterwards.

The thirteen others were all injured, four of them critically.

Lloyd Buresh is buried at Pleasant Hill Cemetery in Burns, Missouri.

The other players involved in the bus crash were:

M/Sgt. William C. Littlejohn, Jr. (2B)
A/1c George E. Smith (C)
S/Sgt. Frederick A. LeClaire (pitched for the Goldsboro Cardinals in 1950)
T/Sgt. Robert T. Moore (Mgr/P)
A/2c Eugene C. Chigounis of Passaic, NJ (2B)
A/2c Robert C. Zittlow of Wisconsin (OF)
A/2c Lewis Robinson of Medford, MA
A/1c Lionel J. "Skippy" Noreau, Jr. of Massachussetts (SS)
1/Lt. Pasquale P. "Pat" Pavone of Massachussetts (1B)
A/2c Bobby E. Jackson of Austin, TX
A/2c John H. Shaver of Wyoming, PA
A/2c Edward E. Heymen of Miami, FL
A/lc James Creager

Lloyd Dean Buresh of Polk County, Missouri

Sources:
Bryan Eagle May 26, 1955
Albuquerque Journal August 27, 1955
Frederick Post August 27, 1955
Hutchinson News-Herald August 27, 1955
Joplin Globe August 27, 1955
Waco News Tribune August 27, 1955
Big Spring Daily Herald August 28, 1955
Galveston News August 28, 1955
Kerrville Daily Times August 28, 1955
Pacific Stars and Stripes August 28, 1955
Certificate of Death 46101

Date Added February 25, 2013 Updated April 14, 2020

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