The SAMs (seniors at First Baptist Church) recently visited the Veteran’s Memorial Park near Sheridan, recommended by SAMs driver, James House.
Upon driving into the park, the first thing one sees is a full-size model of a B-17, a replica of the one that crashed at the site March 12, 1943, where all nine crew members were killed. None were from Arkansas.
The park, dedicated last fall, is six miles north of the Grant County seat, and honors those men, as well as the Sheridan military dead, going back to the Civil War. A black granite wall bears the names of the nine killed as well as Grant County fatalities from 20th century wars.
At the height of World War II, the plane was on its way from an airfield in Kansas to another in Florida. It was then to go to England to bomb Nazi Germany. The plane was heard sputtering near Sheridan before it nosedived into a bank of trees. Personal effects belonging to Peter Ivanovich were tied into a red handkerchief.
In 1944, a monument was placed at the site. In 1980, a Sheridan Boy Scout organized a refurbishing of the original memorial along County Road 50. Five years ago, Sheridan American Legion Post 30 and Sheridan Disabled American Veterans Chapter 56 erected a memorial that now greets visitors.
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An inscription on the 1944 marker bears the words “At the going down of the sun and in the morning, we shall remember them.”
The SAMs also traveled to Benton and visited Bruno’s restaurant, recommended by a genuine Italian who really knew how to cook Italian, according to a press release. Not only could he cook Italian, but came by the table several times to see if everything was OK and if we liked the food.
Those making the trip were the driver, House, the coordinator, Jeanette McGrew, Helen Campbell, Betty Craig, Ann Holt, Peggie Howard, Catherine Long, Jimmie Lee Nichols, Myra Twitchell, Caroline Windsor and Margie Murphy.