Hide Article Text (OCR)
REMIER—TheUnited States’ entry into World War II in December of 1941 touched off a surge of patriotism throughout the southern West Virginia and southwestern Virginia coalfields, and while Allied forces fought a war on two fronts — one in the Pacific and the other in Europe and Africa — it wasn’t long before tragedy struck a little closer to home.On July 1,1942, an American Airlines flagship being used by the U.S. Army to transport troops, lost a wing in a steady rain over the remote mountains of southern West Virginia and crashed into Premier Mountain, about three miles north of Welch, killing all 21 soldiers aboard. According to eyewitness accounts, the plane flew over Coalwood at about 500 feet before crashing into the mountain near the residence of Howard Fain, the weightman at Premier. His wife had been tending a garden and gathering berries not far fromwhere the plane crashed. After returning from the crash site, she told the Bluefield Daily Telegraph reporter covering the story: “It was a terrible sight. I’m sorry that I saw it all.”Local coal miners raised funds and Premier Coal Coke Co., helped to erect a monument in memory of the soldiers who lost their lives in the crash. McDowell County Post No. 8 of the American Legion tended the memorial for a while before giving it over to Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 1144 in Premier. The VFW post has made improvements to the memorial site through the years and conducts annual dedication services at the memorial.Kelly B. Gresby, Vice Commander of Post 1144 said that the post is actively searching for family members of the soldiers who died in the crash in order to invite them to attend the next dedication service. Gresby said that long time Post 1144 chaplain, the late Raymond Clay, was among the coal miners who donated to the memorial fund in the years following the terrible crash.
Newspaper Details
Bluefield Daily Telegraph
Bluefield, West Virginia, US
Sun, Nov 26, 2006
Page 69
Full Page
Clipped by
Elizabeth G.
AL, USA 30 May 2023
Other Publications Near Bluefield, West Virginia
Bluefield Evening Leader
Bluefield Daily Leader
Bluefield Sunset News
Bluefield Sunday Telegraph
The New Daily Telegraph
