Plaque marks site where 8 lives were lost

It’s a miserable soul who would steal a grave marker — especially a marker memorializing men who died in a plane crash while serving our nation during a time of war.

But someone did just that in 2008 when they stole a plaque mounted on the wing of a U.S. Air Force KB-29 that crashed on the windswept slopes of Bald Mountain Ridge in 1956, killing all eight airmen aboard.

“People were like, ‘We’ve got to get this replaced. We’ve got to get another one up there,’” said Brian Mitchell, 43, an Eagle River High School science teacher who helped lead the effort as a former president of the Extreme Four Wheelers. “Of course, there was the initial shock and anger over the whole disrespect to this war monument; … how could anybody be so cold and callous? Once that wore off, we wanted to erect one as soon as possible.”

Lost that night was 1st Lt. Thomas P. Patton; 1st Lt. Lionel E. Reid; 1st Lt. Luther G. Lamm; 2nd Lt. James D. Dellinger; MSgt. Otto D. McAdams; TSgt. Thurman C. Rainer; SSgt. John B. Plyant; and A2C William P. Hodgson.

We’re not telling you this story to heap shame on the thieves who stole their grave marker. Rather, we’re sharing this story to shine our brightest light on the volunteers who placed the first plaque and replaced it with a second plaque this weekend.

It took several years of fundraising, but this past weekend 23 adults and six children drove their four-wheelers for two hours and walked a mile and a half to the remote crash site to fix a new plaque there to remember the sacrifice made by these men and their families.

We’re also impressed that this effort was organized by three four-wheeler groups working together, the Alaska Extreme Four Wheelers, 2 Broke 2 Play and a new club called Dirty Addictions.

While on this hollowed ground, club members also collected and hauled out a 200-pound propeller and aerial stabilizer for refueling boom that they hope will be turned into an exhibit at the Wasilla’s Museum of Alaska Transportation and Industry that tells the story about the crash and its victims.

Robin Sword was 6 months old the night her father, 2nd Lt. Dellinger, died in the mountains north of Wasilla. She’s now 55 and her mother is 78. Sword said she was amazed that strangers would invest so much time and effort on the behalf of strangers

“I’m very surprised,” Sword said, a few days after learning about last Saturday’s trip up the mountain.

We’re not surprised. We’ve come to expect these sort of selfless acts from our neighbors in the Mat-Su Valley.

Today we say thank you to soldiers and their families who gave the last full measure in our service — and to the men and women who placed a marker at this gravesite not once, but twice.

Bravo neighbors. This act of kindness and service reminds us why we are so proud to call this Valley home.