Nine American airmen will be remembered in a small island community 70 years after they were killed when their plane crashed just months before the end of the Second World War.
On March 3, 1945, a B-17 Flying Fortress crashed in fog on Beinn Edra in Staffin, at the north end of Skye, on its way to a RAF base in Wales after departing from America.
At a joint meeting of the Staffin Community Council and Staffin Community Trust, both organisations agreed to arrange a commemoration event to mark the sad date which saw local people attempt to rescue the stricken crew from the hill, which lies between Staffin and Uig in the Trotternish peninsula.
It is hoped to add the names of the American servicemen to the Staffin War Memorial, provided funding can be secured. The plane crew were part of the Allied Forces, like the Staffin men listed on the memorial, and the move is a mark of respect and a fitting tribute to their wartime efforts.
Dr Terence Christian, a Glasgow University archaeologist who has investigated the crash site, has also agreed to deliver a talk after the ceremony and will present new findings on the tragedy.
The community council and Staffin Trust are also hoping to organise a small exhibition of the disaster, invite older members of the community share their memories of that sad day and involve local children.
An American relative of one of the men killed in the crash has welcomed the community's plans.
Kim Marti, who lives in Kendalville, Indiana, said she was delighted that the anniversary would be marked in Staffin. "I began researching the accident six years ago and the journey has been very revealing, exciting and humbling," she said. "I felt compelled to learn all I could about my great uncle Harold D Blue who was the flight engineer on that ill-fated plane. I have read articles published at the time of the accident and what resonated with me was how quickly the people of Staffin rallied to try to assist in any rescue effort they could.
"Now, 70 years later, the Staffin community again is showing their compassion and respect for our US military men by remembering our fallen men." Mr Blue was from Warshaw, a city in Indiana.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article