Name:
Ray Lamar Wesson
Rank:
Civilian
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Date of Death:
1980-03-14
State:
Mississippi
Cemetery:
Evergreen Cemetery, Ocean Springs, Jackson County, Mississippi, USA
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Ray Lamar Wesson, of Ocean Springs, MS, was born on May 22, 1937. He was the son of Raymond Earl Wesson and Virginia Louise Maggard Wesson. He was the husband of Ann Delores Gill Wesson.
Dr. Ray was the Team Physician of the 1980 U.S. Olympic Boxing Team that was killed in a plane crash near Warsaw, Poland, on March 14, 1980. That day, the team was traveling from New York to Warsaw to compete in two dual events in Cracow and Katowice when the Polish IL-62 jetliner went down just half a mile from Warsaw's Okecie Airport. Eighty-seven people, all passengers and crew, including 22 members (14 boxers and 8 staff members) of the US boxing team, died.