Victims of National Guard crash remembered a year later

UNADILLA - Family members and military personnel gathered in a light rain and chilly wind Saturday to remember 21 National Guardsmen who died when a transport plane crashed near here a year ago. <br> <br> The grim, muddy weather was eerily similar to conditions on March 3, 2001, when the C-23 Sherpa crashed in a farm field. <br> <br> ``It really helps bring it home, with it raining like it was that day,&#39;&#39; said Martha Bartels of Seguin, Texas, whose 23-year-old son Mathrew Kidd died in the crash. ``It is like putting some of the missing pieces of the puzzle together. We are getting some of our questions answered by some of the people who were there.&#39;&#39; <br> <br> The aircraft was from the 171st Aviation Regiment in Lakeland, Fla. <br> <br> Eighteen members of the 203rd Red Horse Flight unit, a civil engineering team from the Virginia Air National Guard, were returning to Oceana Naval Air Station from Florida when the plane crashed during a thunderstorm. The three others were crew members from the Florida Guard. <br> <br> An investigative board concluded that crew error caused the crash, but military officials argued the accident had more to do with bad weather and equipment malfunctions. <br> <br> Bartels was among more than 75 people gathered for the dedication of a limestone memorial beside the cotton field where the plane crashed. Family members visited the site Friday. <br> <br> ``I dug up a piece of metal that was buried in the dirt,&#39;&#39; said Cheryl Hurst of Coconut Creek, Fla., sister of Florida Army National Guard flight engineer Robert F. Ward Jr. ``We saw a rainbow. Other people said they saw two eagles flying over the site.&#39;&#39; <br> <br> During the ceremony, a soldier sang the national anthem and another played ``Amazing Grace&#39;&#39; on the bagpipes. Air Force Col. Mike Norrie, who was summoned to command recovery operations a year ago, addressed the gathering. <br> <br> ``My heart sank,&#39;&#39; Norrie said. ``It was one of those calls you train for but pray you never get. <br> <br> ``These men whose lives ended in this awful tragedy left us a gift, a gift of love for their families, community and country,&#39;&#39; he said. ``We must always remember this gift.&#39;&#39;

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