Page 12.1

              Astronaut's home quiet
Son's death brings shock
Compiled Jrom Dispatches An autopsy showed he died of ...........
LEWES-Shock was the dom- a skull fracture and chest injur­inant
mood in the Lewes home ies, as he feU 300 feet from his
of Mr. and Mrs. John Freeman 1'38 twin-jet trainer. It crashed
Saturday shortly after they had into an oil field 2 miles short
been told their son was dead. 01 a runway at Ellington Air
Their son was Air Force Capt. Force Base, near Houston,
Theodore C. Freeman, 34, a where Freeman was prepartng
member 01 the U.S. astronaut to land.
team. He was killed wben his The cause of tbe crash still is
jet trainer crashed near HollS- unknown. Speculation that the
ton Tex. jet bad collided with a flock of
The Freemans met two news-- low·flying birds, passibly geese,
men on the parch of their mod- remalOS unconfirmed.
est larm borne. Their .manner AN ACCIDENT in e tigati
was composed, but theu- laces v s aD
wore looks of shocked disbelief. ~d head~ by Joseph A1grro;
"The government told us not t1, chi~f pilot at Houston s
to talk to reporters," Mrs. Free. manned Space Center, began
man said. They agreed, how- yesterday to. try to lear~ Ibe
ever, to pose for a picture. c.ause. OffiCIals saId the mves-
"Let me change my clothes ligatIon could take two to three
first," said the elder Freeman, weeks.
and the newsman walled while The b<>ard also will try to
he switched Irom a sport shirt answer questions concerning
to a suit, while shirt and lie. Freeman's lall, including:
. -If he intentionally ejected
NEIGHBORS milled around himself Irom his crashing plane,
the Freeman home, ollermg !he why did he do s at an altitude
usual condolences but aaymg o.
little more. Word of a tragedy apparently f~ low for hIS para,
spreads quickly in Lewes. chute Ia op~n. .
Freeman, a 1948 graduale of --:If he did n~t, how did he
Lewes High School, was accept- aCCIdentally fall.
ed into the space program a The body 01 the astronaut was GRIEVE FOR SON-Mr. and Mrs. John Free­Iitll
e a a See FREEMAN-Pa e 3 Col Z man of lewes look at Q plctur. of the;r
DO.....' Bureau Photo bV Chuck M.:Gowtn
son, astronaut Ted Freeman, killed Satur­day
in a plane crash in Texas.