FORT CAMPBELL, Ky. (CLARKSVILLENOW) – The 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) will hold its annual Gander Memorial Ceremony, Dec. 12, in remembrance of 248 soldiers who died in a tragic plane crash, Dec. 12, 1985, in Gander, Newfoundland, Canada.
The crash occurred shortly after takeoff from a refueling stop as the Soldiers, who were assigned or attached to Task Force 3rd Battalion, 502nd Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade, 101st ABN DIV (AASLT), were returning home from a six-month peacekeeping mission in the Sinai Peninsula, Egypt.
Eight crew members were also killed aboard the chartered Arrow Air DC-8 plane, bringing the death toll to 256. The incident denotes the largest loss of life in a single event in the division’s 75-year history.
Canada, Fort Campbell, and Hopkinsville, Kentucky, erected memorials and hold annual ceremonies in honor of the lives lost as a result of this tragedy. Contributing nations of the Multinational Force and Observers, the international peacekeeping force that the fallen Soldiers supported, also host separate memorial events in Egypt.
This year’s Fort Campbell ceremony, which also honors the sacrifice of the fallen Soldiers’ family members, begins at 9 a.m. at the Task Force 3rd Bn., 502nd Inf. Regt. Memorial Tree Park, located between Normandy and Screaming Eagle Boulevards. The Hopkinsville memorial service follows at noon, at the city’s Gander Memorial Park.
Col. Brett G. Sylvia, 101st ABN DIV (AASLT) chief of staff and a former 2nd BCT commander, will provide remarks at both events.