B-17 aircrew remembered

  • Published
  • By Tech. Sgt. Shane A. Cuomo
  • Air Force Print News
NU'UANU PALI LOOKOUT, Hawaii (AFNEWS) --  Airmen from Hickam Air Force Base and the Hawaii Aviation Preservation Society held a memorial ceremony honoring 10 B-17E Flying Fortress crew members who lost their lives here 65 years ago.

The Flying Fortress, returning from a routine combat patrol, crashed into the cliffs of Mt. Keahiakahoe near the Pali lookout during heavy thunderstorms and blacked out conditions.

HAPS placed a plaque at the lookout that describes the events of the night of Easter Sunday, April 5, 1942 four months after the attacks on Pearl Harbor and the air bases on Oahu.

"It's important for us to be here today to put the exclamation point on the hard work done by the Hawaii Aviation Preservation Society and their efforts to commemorate the fallen military members who paid the ultimate price here in Hawaii," said Col. Stanley Josserman, commander of the 154th Mission Support Squadron, Hawaii Air National Guard.

"The Significance of this particular day is that it marks the 65th anniversary of the death of 10 crew members on a B-17E that was flying out of Hickam on a routine combat patrol looking for enemy shipping and for the approach of the enemy," said retired Maj. Colin Perry, Director of HAPS.

According to Perry these patrols were conducted because Hawaii was in high alert, in a defensive posture and feared another Japanese attack and an invasion of the Hawaiian Islands.

"We are here today to remember and thank them for the ultimate sacrifice they paid that evening," said Perry. "It is probably one of the most important things that an American citizen can do because if you don't know the price that was paid to give us the freedoms that we have today then you are in jeopardy of not being able to recognize it in the future and protect those freedoms."

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