| Victor Prather |
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| CATEGORIES ABOUT VICTOR PRATHER | |
| american balloonists | |
| prather, victor | |
| recipients of us distinguished flying cross | |
| 1920s births | |
| 1961 deaths | |
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LIFE Prather was born on June 4 , 1926 , to Victor Prather Sr. and Gladys May Furse in Bethesda , Maryland . He attended Tufts College in 1941 , and became part of the V-12 program there from 1943 to 1945 . He graduated from Tufts in 1945 and then attended Tufts University School Of Medicine , graduating there in 1952 . In 1954 , he rejoined the U.S. Army . He worked as a surgeon aboard the aircraft carrier USS Shangri-La (CV-38) near Morocco until 1957 , when he returned to the United States . He then completed courses in aviation medicine and served in Pensacola , Florida from 1957 to 1958 , and then in Honolulu , Hawaii from 1959 to 1960 . PROJECT RAM In 1960 , he was transferred to Project RAM, a government program to test Prototype Space Suits , at the Bethesda Naval Research Institute . He was commissioned to test how the suits worked Underwater , and later commissioned to see how the suits would function at extremely high Altitudes . THE FLIGHT On below 0.1 Pound Per Square Inch (700 Pa ). Their weights were doubled by their gear, making it almost impossible to move. They landed in the Gulf Of Mexico . Ross climbed up the ladder to the Helicopter first. Prather followed, but unfortunately Prather slipped off of the ladder and fell back into the sea. Since he thought he was out of danger, he had opened up his helmet before climbing up the ladder. When he fell back into the water, he could not swim due to the weight of his suit, and water was coming in through his open helmet. He sank to the bottom and drowned in his suit. AFTER THE JUMP Shortly after Prather's death, President John F. Kennedy phoned Prather's widow, Virginia Merritt, and she arrived at the White House with her children, Marla Lee Prather and Victor A. Prather III. Her husband was then posthumously awarded the Navy Distinguished Flying Cross for 'heroism and extraordinary achievement'. In 1963 , Meritt remarried to Allen Childs and had one child with him, Colby. |
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