One a quiet night, nine miles north of Harlem, Montana the lives of thirteen airmen were lost when two C-1441B Starlifter Cargo Planes collided. The thirteen crew members from McChord Air Force Base were on a low level refueling exercise on that fateful night of November 30, 1992.
Though the thirteen who gave their lives in service to their country are mourned deeply, the community of Harlem and its surrounding area were united in the outpouring of love and generosity to those who came to bring them home with dignity.
The question we always ask is 'Why'? We don't have the answer, but we worship the One who does.
High Flight
Oh, I have slipped the surly bonds of earth,
And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings.
Sunward I've climbed and joined the tumbling mirth
Of sun-split clouds - and done a hundred things
You have not dreamed of - whelped and soared and swung
High in the sunlight silence. Hovering there,
I've chased the shouting wind along and flung
My eager craft through footless halls of air.
Up, up the long, delirious, burning blue
I've topped the wind-swept heights with easy grace,
Where never lark, or even eagle flew:
And, while with silent, lifting mind I've trod
The high untrespassed sanctity
of space,
Put out my hand and touched the face of God.
— John Gillespie Magee, Jr. 1922-1941
(Thirteen rocks surround the central monument, each with the name of one of the airmen lost.)
Capt. David J. Sielewiez DOB: June 1964 POB: Albany, New York
Capt. Jimmy Lee Jenkins DOB: 8 April 1965 POB: Langdale, Alabama
Capt. Mark Alan Eister DOB: 6 September 1960 POB: Chicago, Illinois
Tech. Sgt. David Richard Young DOB: 27 February 1960 POB: Grand Rapids, Michigan
Staff Sgt. Terrence J. Miyoshi DOB: 5 August 1958 POB: Chicago, Illinois
Sr. Airman Wilbert Tyron Brown III DOB: 10 September 1971 POB: Galveston, Texas
Airman 1st Class George Anthony Moreland DOB: 11 September 1970 POB: Lodi, California
Staff Sgt. Monte Lercy Bissett DOB: 19 July 1964 POB: Myrtle Point, Oregon
Tech. Sgt. Peter Leo Osterfeld DOB: 12 June 1958 POB: Montreal, Canada
1st Lt. Edward H. Hoyle III DOB: 28 October POB: Stoughton, Massachusetts
Capt. Kevin M. Maguire DOB: 9 February 1960 POB: Dover, Delaware
Capt. Banks E. Wilkinson DOB: 28 November 1963 POB: Fayetteville, Arkansas
Capt. Edward Desire Parent, Jr. DOB: 20 May 1964 POB: Hartford Connecticut
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