Thirty years ago, Saturday, 248 Soldiers assigned or attached to 3rd Battalion, 502nd Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade, 101st Airborne Division, died in an airplane crash that remains the most fatal in U.S. military history.
On Saturday, Family members, veterans and community members will gather at Fort Campbell’s annual ceremony to honor the victims of the Arrow Air flight that crashed shortly after takeoff at Gander International Airport in Newfoundland. The Soldiers were on the last leg of a return trip after a six-month peacekeeping mission to the Sinai Peninsula in Egypt, Dec. 12, 1985. They deployed in support of the Multinational Force and Observers, which still operates as a way to enforce the 1979 peace agreement between Egypt and Israel.
The 30th Anniversary Gander Memorial Ceremony will begin at 10 a.m. at Fort Campbell’s Task Force 3-502nd Memorial Tree Park, between Normandy and Screaming Eagle boulevards. The ceremony will include remarks from 2nd Brigade Combat Team Commander Col. Brett G. Sylvia.
On Friday, Strike brigade is hosting an open house followed by an evening social for the Families and veterans in town for the ceremony. These supplementary events came about as veterans and surviving Family members took a greater role in the planning process for this year’s event, with a committee that met periodically at Fort Campbell. The open house, from 9 a.m. until 3 p.m. at 7078 Stands Alone Ave., allows Families and veterans to see day-to-day operations of Strike Soldiers, as well as connect with those who will be involved in Saturday’s ceremony.
“The Families have asked to meet the Soldier who stands in the formation for their [fallen] Soldier,” said Maj. Ireka Sanders, 2nd BCT public affairs officer. “That afternoon the veterans have planned a social for themselves and the surviving Families, so that they could reconnect during that time, since it’s been 30 years.”
More than 300 veterans and surviving Family members are expected to attend the 30th anniversary ceremony. People are coming from across the world this year, Sanders said, with a Canadian veteran who assisted in the recovery effort expected to attend, as well as former Fort Campbell civilian employees who helped coordinate mortuary affairs and other tasks immediately following the crash.
“We’re to the point now where, it’s not just the spouse coming back or the kids,” Sanders said. “There are people calling me saying, ‘Oh my uncle was on that flight and we’re coming down this year.’
“It’s not just our veterans. It’s everyone who had a piece in it that this impacted their lives and their career.”
As the anniversary draws near, the Gander crash still looms large at Fort Campbell. The legacy of the “Strike and Kill” Battalion is held dear and passed along to every 2nd BCT Soldier, Sanders said.
“Their history is still embedded in what the unit does today,” she said. “They’re aware that these Soldiers [were] on a peacekeeping mission and peacekeeping missions are not something that’s normal for Soldiers, but it’s definitely something that’s in the heart of every Soldier.”
A separate ceremony, hosted by the Hopkinsville Chamber of Commerce, will follow at noon, Saturday, at the Fort Campbell Memorial Park at the intersection of Highway 41A and the Pennyrile Parkway in Hopkinsville. The Christian County Military Affairs Committee will host a luncheon immediately following the ceremony at Pioneers Inc. (904A North Main St.).
Another memorial ceremony will be hosted Saturday by Soldiers serving with the Multinational Force and Observers in the Sinai. These worldwide remembrances echo the vow then-101st Airborne Division and Fort Campbell Commander Maj. Gen. Burton D. Patrick made on that December day 30 years ago.
“This tragedy will have an everlasting impact, but the fiber of this division is strong,” Patrick said. “We will take care of the Families, reconstitute our forces and continue with the mission. They wouldn’t want it any other way.”
MEMORIAL ceremonies
•Wreath laying ceremony for the 30th anniversary of the Gander crash –10 a.m. Saturday at the Task Force 3-502nd Memorial Tree Park, located between Normandy and Screaming Eagle boulevards.
•Second ceremony hosted by the Hopkinsville Chamber of Commerce – noon Saturday at the Fort Campbell Memorial Park, Hopkinsville, at the intersection of 41A and the Pennyrile Parkway.