Amelia Earhart

Once again, the mystery of Amelia Earhart's disappearance in 1937 has rebounded into big news with the release of a major motion picture, “Amelia.”

There have been countless stories, films, documentaries, books, investigations, theories and details about just what happened to the woman who tried to fly around the world but vanished. Wreckage of her two-engine plane, the Electra, has never been found. She and navigator Fred Noonan were last heard from in the vicinity of Howland Island in the Pacific where it is commonly believed the craft went into the ocean.

Now pholks, I have heard, seen and read all kinds of theories about this mystery which likely will continue to be just that. Several years after the disappearance, some bones were found on a tiny coral atoll, Nikumarure, but were lost and never confirmed to be those of either of the missing fliers. Popular assumptions were that Earhart and Noonan were part of a covert pre-World War II spy mission and were captured by the Japanese.

But well before most of the dozens of expeditions and searches for the real truth of the famed flier, my family had reason to follow the story.

My family had a rather close relationship with Richard R. Black, who is said to have had the last radio contact with Earhart about 10 a.m. July 2, 1937, not far from Howland Island.

Black was an engineer and from 1933 to 1935, he served on Admiral Byrd's second Antarctic expedition as a civilian in charge of the East Base in Little America, for which he received the Navy's Special Silver Medal. Over the next 30 years, he served in four other Antarctic expeditions and was an active duty officer for Antarctic planning.

Just how my parents were connected with Black in the late '20s or early '30s is something which I have only limited knowledge. My brother Don believes our dad likely was connected to Richard Black in tunnel construction or some other engineering endeavor. Dad probably was working on either a major tunnel project in the Bay Area or the Hetch Hetchy San Francisco water pipeline project at the time.

Anyhow, when Black's wife, Ruth, died in 1932, my parents reportedly took care of the Black's 5-year-old son for a few weeks until relatives could take over since Black was on his way again to the South Pole.

Our folks received several letters or postcards from Richard Black, I think at least one was sent from Little America and included a photo. Both Don and I remember seeing them. I believe they still exist but are tucked away in the massive amount of clipping and family keepsakes our mother stashed in various boxes, drawers and heaven only knows where else.

And both Don and I remember years later dad telling of Dick Black's comments around 1940 that there was a lot to the Earhart disappearance that had not been public. I remember the discussions but didn't pay too much attention. Now I wish I had.

Obviously, I did not I realize just how important a role he played in the Earhart mission and being the last to have radio communication and later the South Pole expeditions. His biography in the Arlington National Cemetery registry and other sites is compelling and worth the time to check out. I plan on doing some more research just for my own satisfaction.

But this much I know:

Richard B. Black was a member of the Naval Reserve in August 1941 when he was called to active duty and stationed at Pearl Harbor, and was there Dec. 7, 1941. During the war, he fought in the battles for Tarawa and Saipan and earned a Bronze Medal.

After the war, Admiral Black worked as a federal aeronautics official in Hawaii, then did research at John Hopkins University. He was civilian aide in South Korea during the Korean War and later an operations analyst for the Office of Naval Research. He also was in charge of the Antarctic operations for the Navy in the 1960s.

He lived in Washington and Woodbridge, Va., retiring from the reserve in 1962 and from government work in 1967. He died in 1992 at age 90.

Don't know if I'll catch the new “Amelia” flick or not, but it's got a better chance for my limited time at the movies.