More than 70 years after he died in an air crash while serving in the U.S. Air Force, Airman 1st Class Sterling E. Newsome Jr. was laid to rest by his family at the Dayton National Cemetery. His grave is located in a new burial section with no grass around the markers and it was muddy - slippery muddy - where we wanted to pay our respect to this soldier. This is a story of years of dedication to bring these fallen soldiers home.
Sterling Newsome, at the time 30 years old, was among 52 service members who lost their lives on November 22, 1952, when the C-124 Globemaster military transport aircraft they were traveling aboard crashed into a mountain in Mount Gannett, Alaska, during severe weather conditions.
Due to its remote location, the crash site would not be discovered until six decades later, when an Alaska National Guard crew conducting routine training in 2012 spotted aircraft wreckage, frozen in ice, on Colony Glacier.
Recovery operations confirmed it was debris from the Air Force C-124 that crashed six decades earlier with 42 airmen, eight soldiers, one Marine and one sailor on board. Since that time, annual recovery missions, named Operation Colony Glacier, have been conducted by the U.S. military with the goal to locate and return the remains of all who perished. The actions of these men to return these lost soldiers home is beyond heroic.
In 2021, a shirt belonging to Newsome was recovered and presented to his family in Dayton. More recently, additional remains were identified, transported to Dayton, and presented to his extended family. Last November a memorial service celebrating Newsome's life, his service, and his return home was held and now, 74 years, later this veteran was buried with full military honors.
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Immortality is being remembered.
ReplyDeleteThe efforts of those rescue teams was certainly heroic. How great that he is being remembered all these years later.
ReplyDeleteHow moving that these service members were not forgotten and have been laid to rest with honor.
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