National Guard Sgt. 1st Class Brian Thomsen was leading a routine drill near the site of the 1970 plane crash that killed 75 people, including the Marshall University football team, coaches and boosters, when he saw the university flag at the site was tattered and torn. Thomsen, of North Carolina, decided to have the flag replaced, knowing how sacred the land is to the Marshall community and those who live in the area.
The upkeep at memorial at the site of the crash is a responsibility shared between Marshall University, Kenova Volunteer Fire Department and community members, but rather than wait Thomsen and members of the 2/19th Special Forces Training Team decided to act. The Guardsmen went to a campus bookstore the following weekend to purchase a new flag.
Today marks the 45th anniversary of the 1970 plane crash. Thomsen made it his purpose to make sure the Marshall University flag was replaced. “We didn’t do anything overt,” he said. “We just wanted to honor the connection the community has with the memorial.”
National Guard Sgt. 1st Class Brian Thomsen saw the tattered flag and knew something had to be done.
It was a Saturday morning, and Thomsen was leading a routine drill near the site of the 1970 plane crash that took the lives of 75 Marshall University football players, coaches and community members in one of the deadliest sports-related tragedies in U.S. history.
“We were on one of our five-mile runs,” he said. “That one — we call it a run out to the crash site.”
The trail, which Thomsen and members of the 2/19th Special Forces Training Team were running on, cuts through the woody hills outside Ceredo and Kenova, small Ohio River towns west of Huntington. Thomsen said the trail he and his team use goes past the memorial before doubling back to the Kenova Armory, which is about two miles from the crash site.
On that run, Thomsen noticed the flag marking a memorial to those who died had been ripped by heavy wind.
“We saw it the first day we were out there,” he said. “It was in bad shape.”
Knowing how sacred the patch of land is to the Marshall community and those living in the area, Thomsen, who lives in North Carolina, made it his purpose to see the flag replaced.
Thomsen said he and his fellow guardsmen weren’t sure who they should contact to replace the flag. He said he didn’t know if it was a community responsibility or if someone at the university was in charge of upkeep.
Because the crash site is public property, maintenance is a team effort, said university spokeswoman Ginny Painter. She said upkeep, including removing trash and changing the flag, is handled by Marshall, the Kenova Volunteer Fire Department and community members.
Not wanting to wait to find out if someone would take care of the flag, Thomsen and his guardsmen acted.
“We just said, ‘let’s make it happen,’” Thomsen said.
Due to busy schedules, Thomsen and training team members weren’t able to make a swap until the following Saturday, Nov. 7.
Returning to the site the following weekend, they removed the flag and took it with them to the Marshall University bookstore on campus so they were guaranteed to get the right size.
When they got there, shortly after 2 p.m., the bookstore had just closed.
“They were still checking out a customer,” Thomsen said he noticed.
The guardsmen knocked on the door, asking for a flag. Once they explained what they were doing, the bookstore staff obliged.
“We went to the crash site immediately to replace it,” Thomsen said, later adding that he kept the old flag, which he now has with him in North Carolina.
It was a silent deed, Thomsen said, adding that he would be surprised if anyone noticed the flag was changed.
“We didn’t do anything overt,” he said. “We just wanted to honor the connection the community has with the memorial.”
Thomsen, who doesn’t have any ties to the university, said many of the soldiers he came to West Virginia to train have some connection to the school. He is a non-commissioned officer in charge of the team, which is training for an elite Special Forces selection and qualification course.
“A lot of our guys live here,” he said. “They have a lot of hometown pride, and they recognize how important it (the memorial flag) is.”
Painter said Thomsen’s actions speaks to the respect and reverence everyone in the community feels for the site and the tragedy.
Each year, the Marshall community comes together to remember the 75 who died in the plane crash. Following the crash, then-Marshall President John Barker commissioned a memorial committee to designate memorials on campus and in the community. One, the Memorial Fountain, is at the heart of Marshall’s campus. Others have been erected in Spring Hill Cemetery, where several who died in the crash are buried.
Every Nov. 14, on the anniversary of the crash, the fountain is shut off during a memorial ceremony.
The 2006 film “We Are Marshall” dramatizes the crash and the rebuilding of the football program.
Today marks the 45th anniversary. A memorial service is scheduled for 10 a.m. at the Memorial Fountain on Marshall’s student center plaza in Huntington.
- Source: http://www.wvgazettemail.com
In 1970, a chartered Southern Airways DC-9 crashed while trying to land in West Virginia, killing all 75 people on board, including the Marshall University football team and its coaching staff, returning after a game against East Carolina.
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