Nestled in the heart of Fort Campbell – the U.S. Army base that straddles the Kentucky-Tennessee border – is a grid of over 200 Canadian Sugar Maple trees.
The grove, spanning around a dozen acres, stands in memory of what remains the single largest loss of life event in the 101st Airborne Division’s history – a plane crash that took the lives of hundreds of soldiers who were wrapping up their deployment on a peacekeeping mission in the Middle East.
Friday marks the 40th anniversary of the crash in Gander, Newfoundland, Canada that took the lives of 248 Fort Campbell soldiers who were on their way home from a deployment to Egypt, as well as eight crew members.
In 1985, members of the 3rd Battalion, 502nd Infantry Regiment – also referred to as Task Force 3-502 – were deployed to the Sinai Peninsula. Their mission was to serve with the Multinational Force and Observers, a group that was established to enforce the terms of a peace treaty between Egypt and Israel the two nations reached in 1979 following the signing of the Camp David Accords the year prior.
In December 1985, with Task Force 3-502’s six-month deployment drawing to a close, a group of soldiers departed for home. They flew out of Cairo on Dec. 11, making two fuel stops on the way to Fort Campbell: one in Cologne, Germany, and another in Gander, Newfoundland.
Arrow Air Flight 1285 landed in the far eastern Canadian town on the morning of Dec. 12, 1985, to refuel. Shortly after takeoff, the plane crashed in a forest near the airport’s runway – killing every person on board.
1st Lt. Thomas Sonnie is the division historian for the 101st Airborne based at Fort Campbell.
“The 248 soldiers who were on that flight were specially selected to be on it because they had families and they were trying to get them home in time for Christmas,” Sonnie said. “There was a large group of family members waiting on them back here at Fort Campbell. There were actually some waiting in a hangar, and had to be told the tragic news.”
Philip Eastman was only 10 when his father, Capt. Michael Eastman, died aboard Arrow Air Flight 1285R.
“I think my father actually called my mother from Canada, you know, said they landed in Canada and they would be home in a few hours,” Eastman said. “It was early in the morning. I remember my mom, people calling, and then someone knocking on the door. It was probably like six o'clock in the morning. I think it was one of the neighbors, and that's when we found out.”
Four days after the crash, President Ronald Reagan came to Fort Campbell for a memorial service honoring the more than 200 soldiers who died in the plane crash. Eastman said he remembers the president and First Lady Nancy Reagan walking around and giving their condolences to each of the hundreds of families who gathered together in mourning.
Addressing the crowd in a hangar at Fort Campbell, Reagan said the nation was joined together in grieving the loss of these military service members. He also highlighted the reason behind their final deployment: maintaining peace.
“Some people think of members of the military as only warriors, fierce in their martial expertise. But the men and women we mourn today were peacemakers. They were there to protect life and preserve a peace, to act as a force for stability and hope and trust,” Reagan said at the memorial service.
Hopkinsville’s Gander memorial revamped ahead of 40th anniversary commemoration
Across the globe, there are four memorial sites honoring the American soldiers who died in the 1985 Gander plane crash. In addition to memorials at Fort Campbell and in Gander, Newfoundland, and El Gorah, Egypt, another site is dedicated to the 248 soldiers’ memories in Hopkinsville – about a 20-minute drive from the nearby Army base.
Shannon Lane is the Christian County Chamber of Commerce’s director of military affairs. He said Fort Campbell is entwined into the fabric of area communities like Hopkinsville, and many military families stay in the region once their service time comes to a close.
When tragedies like the Gander plane crash happen, Lane said the impacts are felt far beyond the walls of the army base.
“We talk about 40 years ago, that seems like a long time, but that's still recent. We still have mothers and fathers that are still alive of people that were on that plane. We have wives and husbands and sons and daughters, brothers and sisters that still live in this community, neighbors that were friends with these soldiers,” Lane said.
Philip Eastman also chairs the Christian County Chamber’s Military Affairs Committee. He said Hopkinsville’s Gander Memorial Park – which sits just off of Fort Campbell Boulevard near a major intersection with I-169 – is “the face of the city” for people entering there.
The park has been home to a seven-foot copper statue called “Peacekeeper” for decades, recognizing the reason behind the fallen soldiers’ final deployment. But Eastman felt the space could be improved, and the 40th anniversary of the crash provided a timely opportunity to do that.
Isaiah Pride is president of the concrete construction company Wicked Kolors and founder of the local nonprofit Dad’s House. He collaborated with Eastman and others to raise funds for the remodeling process, carry out renovations at the Hopkinsville site over the past several months and add new elements to it – including making the space more handicap accessible, adding benches and designing a new eternal flame monument.
“It symbolizes the tribute and recognition to the lives that are lost. It's almost a vow from the living that we're not going to forget those we've lost,” Pride said.
Eastman credits Pride with taking ideas for new elements for the park and making them look better than he could have imagined.
“Isaiah never told me no. Every time I asked him, ‘can we do this?’ [he’d say] ‘I guess we can.’ And he moved on with it,” Eastman said. “It’s phenomenal. It really came out awesome.”
Hopkinsville community members and soldiers from Fort Campbell held a ceremony Friday on the 40th anniversary of the Gander crash to light the new eternal flame, which stands about 17 feet off the ground.
Memorials like the ones in Hopkinsville and Fort Campbell, Eastman said, help keep the sacrifice soldiers made in the minds of community members.
“It's not only important for the family members, but it's also important for the soldiers, even the young soldiers who had no connection [to the Gander crash]...just for them to know that, you know, they could get sent away and they may never come back,” Eastman said.
Lane said these sites also help future generations remember that soldiers risk their lives when they sign up to serve their country, and provide opportunities to reflect on sacrifices military members make.
“There's a lot of lessons in history, and if you don't keep those memories alive, those lessons fade away with the names.”
