In 1985, I was 8 years old...
I travelled back to Newfoundland constantly as my family had settled in the Toronto, Ontario region...But with my Mom and Dad working so hard, they needed to ship me to my grandparents home here on the island every year to....Get a break :)
The airport that serviced the area where my grandparents lived was Gander International Airport....I flew into it numerous times a year without much thought...
But in December of 1985 tragedy struck the airport and island.
On the 12th, the 101st Airborne based out of Fort Campbell Kentucky was on route back home after a tour in the middle east on a peace keeping mission.
They had one stop over in Germany and then a final refuelling here in Gander Newfoundland before making their way home.
As the plane started to climb it stalled and crashed a few hundred meters from the end of the runway....Killing all 256 servicemen and crew onboard.
To this day it is the worst air disaster on Canadian soil and I pray the last.
This event shook not only America but also the island here in Canada.
And for an 8 year old kid....I was left with so many questions.
I never thought of an airplane as a 'safe way' to travel after that and had a million and one questions to this day about the science of flight and what made the plane go down...
On the highway near to where the plane went down, the town of Gander erected a memorial called the 'Silent Witness'.
I've driven past it, more times than I can count...But today I decided to spend a few minutes reading the plaques, the names of those brave men and women who perished and some time in reflection...
Not the 'warmest' of posts today...But something I wanted to do for years and finally had the chance to spend time at the Silent Witness memorial.
If you would like to read more about the Arrow Air Disaster of 1985, here is a link to the Wikipedia page.
May they all rest in peace.
Some pics of the memorial I took today:
