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GREENVILLE - The seven airmen who died 43 years ago in a fiery airplane crash on Elephant Mountain will be remembered Saturday during a solemn ceremony planned by the Moosehead Riders Snowmobile Club. The two survivors of the crash also will be honored. The annual commemoration of the B-52 bomber crash will begin at 1 p.m. at the snowmobile clubhouse. From there, weather permitting, the participants will snowmobile the 12 miles to the remote crash site, where a short ceremony will be held, according to Pete Pratt, a member of the snowmobile club. This is the 13th year the club has held the commemoration. "It's something the club and the area think a lot of, and we definitely want to keep the awareness of it," Pratt said Thursday. "Even though it was during the Cold War period, it has meant a lot to the military in the years hence." The B-52 Stratofortress had left Westover Air Force Base in Massachusetts at about noon Jan. 24, 1963, and was on a routine training mission when a malfunction caused the unarmed plane to go down in this remote wooded area of Maine. Killed in the crash were: Lt. Col. Joe R. Simpson Jr., Maj. William W. Gabriel, Maj. Robert J. Morrison, Maj. Robert J. Hill, Capt. Herbert L. Hansen, Capt. Charles G. Leuchter and Tech. Sgt. Michael F. O'Keefe. Capt. Gerald Adler of Davis, Calif., now retired, and the aircraft commander, Lt. Col. Dante E. Bulli of Nebraska, also retired, both ejected from the plane before it crashed and survived. The two survivors are unable to attend this year's memorial, but Adler and Leuchter's son and daughter plan to visit Greenville on Memorial Day weekend, according to Pratt. The memorial is conducted at the resting place of a section of the airplane's fuselage. Seven yellow roses are left there in remembrance of the men who perished, and two red roses are placed on the snow near a slate marker in recognition of Adler and Bulli. Pratt said the local American Legion, the Maine Air National Guard and the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife will participate in the ceremony, which will be followed by a spaghetti supper at the clubhouse. |