The Trenton Times_Ceremonies recall a Trenton diplomat (September 23)

24.09.2007

BY DEBRA FRIEDMAN, Sunday, September 23, 2007

It has been a remarkable year for family members of Henry W. Antheil Jr., the Trenton native who was an American diplomat to the Soviet Union before the start of World War II, and tragically, also believed to be one of the Cold War's first casualties.

He died at the age of 27 in a plane crash that occurred on the Finnish plane, Kaleva, while flying over the Gulf of Finland near Tallinn, Estonia, on June 14, 1940.

Today, Antheil's memory will be honored in the very country where the now infamous crash took place, marking the second ceremony this year that commemorates his life.

The events are extremely significant to his family, who have been trying to get their historic family member recognition for decades.

"It took a long time to get this straight," said Antheil's nephew, Arthur McTighe.

"But it's a wonderful thing that it is happening now and my family is very proud."

The event, which is being held on Antheil's birthday, will feature the music of his older brother, George Antheil, and comes just months after the State Department honored him in Washington, D.C., this past May, when Antheil's name was added to an American Foreign Service Association plaque honoring U.S. embassy employees who died in the line of duty overseas.

Decades ago, Antheil's relatives tried to get the State Department to honor him for his service to the country, however, his death was marred with allegations that he may have been a Soviet Spy. In 1956, those allegations proved to be false when the FBI cleared Antheil of the charges.

Now, after 67 years, relatives of Antheil are finally seeing their relative, who was a Trenton Central High School graduate, receive the honor they felt he deserved all along.

According to McTighe, Antheil was serving as a U.S. diplomatic courier on the day he died, going to the vacant U.S. Embassy in Estonia to remove diplomatic documents from a safe before invading Soviet forces could get to them.

Antheil's return flight from Tallinn that June day was the last flight out of the country before Soviet forces invaded the country, and while it was initially believed that the aircraft "mysteriously exploded," it was later reported that the Soviets shot it down.

"He was a really intelligent, happy, friendly guy," McTighe said of his uncle.

"This is wonderful for my mother, because she talked so vividly about him."

McTighe said the concert in Estonia came about through a collaborative effort between the Estonian government and U.S. Ambassador to Estonia Dave Phillips and his wife Kay.

The ceremony will be filmed by Estonian filmmaker Ants Vist who will use the footage for a movie he is making, which will tell the story of the lives lost on the Keleva flight, including Antheil's.

"He will tell the story of my uncle and go back to his roots in Trenton," McTighe said.

McTighe credits Vist, along with the Estonian government, and Foreign Service officer Eric A. Johnson, with helping bring out the real story behind his uncle's life and untimely death.

"Ants Vist is one of their (Estonia) great spokesmen and artists," McTighe said, noting that the Estonians seem to have a deep connection with the plane crash that took his uncle's life.

"I discovered that this airplane, the Kaleva, was a symbol to the Estonians of oppression," he said. "It was a symbol of lost freedom to them."

That connection is what has brought the tribute of Henry Antheil Jr. across the world to Estonia.

While McTighe and other family members will be unable to make the trip overseas to attend the ceremony, they are very grateful to the Estonian government and people that it is taking place.

McTighe said he hopes to visit the country one day, because of the "deep connection" he says he feels with the people and the country.

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