Betty Lou Oliver, who had recently turned twenty, was working as an elevator operator for the Empire State Building that fateful day July 28, 1945. She was on the 80th story as a B-25, piloted by Captain William Smith, was heading straight for the building through the heavy fog over New York. At the time, the Empire State Building was the tallest in the world.

The plane would crash into the 79th floor, one floor from where Betty was at that moment. There was an explosion and fire, and 14 people were killed. But Betty, thrown from her post, badly burned, survived the crash.

When rescuers got to her, a decision was made to lower her down via the elevators. What the rescuers did not know was that the cables had already been weakened to the breaking point. As soon as the elevator doors closed, the cables snapped - and Betty plummeted 79 stories.

Miraculously she survived the fall, and was later treated at the hospital for serious injuries. But she survived, to have three children and seven grandchildren. Betty Lou Oliver died at the age of 73 in November 1999, and is buried alongside her husband in the Ft. Smith National Cemetery in Arizona.