Virginia National Guard dedicates memorial on crash anniversary

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Posted 8:22AM on Monday, March 4, 2002

VIRGINIA BEACH - After 18 Virginia Air National Guardsmen died in a plane crash a year ago, the remaining members of their civil engineering unit honored them by doing what they do best: building something. The members of the 203rd Red Horse Flight marked Sunday's anniversary of the crash in a Georgia field by dedicating the memorial they designed and then built with help from members of seven other Red Horse units nationwide. What once was a barren parade field at the Camp Pendleton state military reservation was planted with Bradford pear trees for each of the 18 Virginian Air National Guard and three Florida National Guardsmen who died in what officials said was the National Guard's worst peacetime aviation disaster. A path of concrete pavers meanders through the trees and leads to a statue of a red horse kneeling in front of a granite rock bearing the names of the dead. ``Now we stand in front of a beautiful living memorial that symbolizes their presence, their service and their commitment,'' Lt. Col. Thomas Turlip, commander of the 203rd, told about 1,000 relatives, Guard members and dignitaries who attended the private service. The crowd gave him a standing ovation before he even said a word, and family members presented him with photos of all the crash victims, mounted and framed together. ``As we walk along these magnificent walkways, we will walk amongst our own American patriots in a very special way,'' Turlip said. ``We will now feel their presence, and we will always remember.'' The Virginia Guardsmen who died were part-time soldiers who gave up a weekend a month and at least two weeks a year to prepare for their mission of construction work for military and humanitarian purposes on short notice anywhere in the world. ``They were men of courage, judgment and integrity, but most of all they were men of dedication,'' said Gov. Mark R. Warner. ``We honor them and we thank their families for service to Virginia and the nation.'' The name of each man who died was read aloud as Guardsmen standing in front of the crowd raised swords, then slowly lowered them. Warner and other officials then cut a red, white and blue ribbon in front of the memorial. Four F-16 jets flew overhead to end the ceremony. The memorial covers 30,000 square feet. Incorporating elements from designs by several members of the 203rd, it begins at a life-sized statue of a red horse nicknamed Bubba that already stood in front of the unit's headquarters. Red Horse is an acronym for Rapid Engineering Deployable, Heavy Operation Readiness Special Equipment. A tree for the victims of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks was added to the trees planted for the crash victims; ground was broken for the memorial four days after the attacks. On Sunday, red, white and blue ribbons were tied to each tree trunk, and family members placed flowers, wreaths and balloons that read ``I Love You'' and ``Miss You'' by the trees. A bronze Minuteman a symbol of the National Guard's heritage rises up from a clear pool in front of a waterfall, which was turned on during the ceremony. Above is a sign reading: ``On Guard Eternally.'' The waterfall is the only part of the memorial built by contractors. A smaller red horse Bubba Jr. kneels before the rock listing the crash victims. On a small hill beyond that is a bulldozer. ``You can almost see the tears coming out of that horse,'' Martha Bartels of Seguin, Texas, said as she stood in the rain in front of the tree dedicated to her son, Senior Airman Mathrew E. Kidd, 23, of Hampton. ``It's been a long, hard year. I haven't slept in a couple of days, because of preparing for this, reliving the nightmare of a year ago,'' said Bartels, an Air Force reservist who enlisted her son in the Guard. The memorial cost about $160,000, Guard officials said. The Air Force gave about three-quarters of that, and the 203rd also raised money by holding a golf tournament and selling coins and dog tags with the names of the dead. The 203rd Red Horse Flight members were their on their way home after two weeks of training at Hurlburt Field, Fla., when their plane went down in a field in Unadilla, Ga. About a tenth of the 203rd's 198 members died, the worst loss off life for the Virginia National Guard since 21 men from Bedford died in the D-Day invasion at Normandy on June 6, 1944. Three Florida Army National Guard members who flew the C-23 Sherpa also perished. Military investigators said the crew loaded the plane improperly, but the general who ordered the probe blamed bad weather and equipment malfunctions. The families of 11 of the Guardsmen have sued the plane's manufacturer and other companies, saying malfunctioning equipment was at fault. ``One of the silver linings in all of this was being able to get close to some of these other family members,'' said Kathy Skurupey, widow of Staff Sgt. Gregory Skurupey. She lives more than an hour away, in Gloucester, and did not know any of the unit members or their families before the crash. ``All of them that I have met so far have been absolutely amazing,'' Skurupey said. ``They are wonderful, loving, open people and I cherish every friendship that I have made here.'' On the Net: Virginia Air National Guard: http://va.ang.af.mil/ 203rd Red Horse Flight: http://va.ang.af.mil/redhorse/203rd.htm