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Girl Medical Student Extricates Dying, Injured from Plane Wreckage

November 19, 1933
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Libby Wurgraft, dark-haired and pretty, is a heroine today as a result of swift action and some shrewd figuring she did when a giant tri-motored air liner of the United States lines crashed into a hill near Portland, Ore, last Thursday.

Manouevering about in a thick fog which blinded its engineers, the airplane came tearing to the earth. Miss Wurgraft, 24 years old and a student at Stanford University Medical School, got over to the wreckage and speedly set to work trying to extricate the dying and injured.

The complete story of Miss Wurgraft’s heroism has not been reported in full, and probably never will. Hints of how great her difficulties were, were given by two unnamed men whom she sent for outside help.

The girl’s ambition is to enter aviation, in spite of the dangers facing a flyer. Two months ago she was in a plane which crashed at Oakland, but escaped unhurt. A few days ago, following the accident, she flew to that city.

Miss Wurgraft’s father is Robert L. Wurgraft, wholesale produce man who lives at 361 24th Street. Her sisters are school teachers.

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