Years and years had passed since the fateful day in 1955 when United Airlines Flight 409 struck Medicine Bow Peak before the event would be memorialized. For 50 years, there were numerous efforts to commemorate the tragedy which claimed the lives of 66 passengers and crew members, but to no avail.
Last week’s column in the Wyoming Livestock Roundup featured that event.
In 1997, the University of Wyoming American Heritage Center hosted an exhibit and panel discussion during which several folks suggested a marker be placed on the peak to mark the crash. Among those on the panel who described the tragedy were rescuers who assisted in the recovery effort and hoped their efforts would be remembered.
Also, Mel Duncan, a resident of Cheyenne who assisted with the rescue effort, self published a booklet detailing the crash. It was available in local bookstores for many years. The manuscript has been digitized so it can be viewed online, along with many other materials from the collection.
In 2001, a privately funded plaque memorializing the victims of the crash was erected at the Miner’s Camp turnout on Snowy Range Highway 130 between Centennial and Saratoga, just west of the Snowy Range summit.
Viewers of the plaque face a spot on Medicine Bow Peak slightly south of where the plane met the mountain. There are no trails to the crash site.
The area of the crash site is near the Lake Marie and Mirror Lake recreation parking lots and many people go there to hike the mountain and look for pieces of aircraft.
Now that the crash site is nearly 70 years old, it is federally protected and no one may legally remove pieces of the wreckage. But people who wish to pay their respects to the victims of Flight 409 can save themselves the steep, rocky hike and instead visit the memorial.
Duncan once noted his interest in Flight 409 had been rekindled after Pan Am Flight 103 was blown up over Lockerbie, Scotland, killing all 259 aboard.
This act of terrorism and the trials of its perpetrators had gotten him thinking about the families of Flight 409. He felt it was important to get some sort of memorial in the mountains to comfort the families and mark the event for future generations.
My personal interest in recalling the details of the tragic disaster 70 years ago was rekindled by the several airplane wrecks during the past couple of weeks. Thus, this and last week’s columns for the Wyoming Livestock Roundup.
After several years of negotiations, Duncan received the go-ahead from the U.S. Forest Service to place a plaque near the site of the crash.
The inscription reads, “In memory of the 66 passengers and crew that perished on Medicine Bow Peak Oct. 6, 1955.”
Mel said he found the perfect spot for the memorial marker – on a large quartzite boulder with a flat face. He purchased a brass plaque with his own funds and then spent a day drilling to get the plaque into the rock.
A dedication ceremony took place on Aug. 25, 2001, with 132 people in attendance. Many of those people were families of the victims who signed the guest book with notes of grateful appreciation to Duncan.