The annual Bakers Creek Memorial ceremony was conducted at Bakers Creek last Sunday to commemorate the 79th Anniversary of the wartime crash of an American aircraft that claimed the lives of 40 American soldiers and crippled the sole survivor.
The ceremony also marked the 30th anniversary of the Memorial’s unveiling and dedication in 1992.
Special guests Corporal (AAFC) Deb Rutherford of the Air Force Cadets, Mackay Deputy Mayor Karen May and Mackay RSL President Ken Higgins arrived at the ceremony by Jeep.
A Tri-School Band marched to the venue, made up of students from Northview, Central and Dundula State Schools, followed by a parade of Australian and American flags and Australian Air Force Cadets.
70 people turned out for the ceremony led by Master of Ceremonies Corporal Rutherford.
Guest Speaker Pan Jaenke, who served on the committee that conceived and built the Memorial thirty years ago, spoke about the history of the memorial and Councillor May and Mr Higgins also addressed the ceremony.
Dignitaries, students and Dundula State School Principal Trudy Large laid flowers of remembrance.
The United States Army Air Forces B-17C Flying Fortress crashed at 6:02AM at Bakers Creek June 14, 1943, en route to Port Moresby with passengers who had spent 10 days R&R leave in Mackay.
The Memorial was unveiled and dedicated on May 11, 1992 to honour the 41 Americans aboard.
“Although it signifies the loss of 40 crew and sole survivor on that aircraft, it also represents about 40,000 who spent their R&R in Mackay,” said Mackay RSL Senior Vice President Col Benson.
Mr Benson said The Bakers Creek Memorial is one of a relatively few memorials in the world that honour soldiers from another country.
“It is one of the few memorials to foreigners.”
The US Army conducted a parallel ceremony at the Bakers Creek Air Crash Memorial in Washington, DC on Tuesday.
More than 70 people paid their respects at the Bakers Creek Memorial last Sunday. L-R: Cr Fran Mann, Cr Karen May, Member for Dawson Andrew Willcox, Cr Belinda Hassan, Cr Pauline Townsend, Youth Parliament member Sebastian Padget, Cr Justin Englert. Photo credit: Office of Andrew Willcox
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