ST. GEORGE — In what has become a yearly practice, Wreaths Across America teamed with Dixie Air Force Junior ROTC cadets and other local volunteers in a memorial ceremony atop Square Top Mountain.
The volunteers placed a remembrance wreath at the foot of the memorial at the site where seven United States Air Force crewmen lost their lives in a B-52 crash 40 years ago.
As previously reported in St. George News, the Boeing B-52 BUFF (big ugly fat fellow) failed to get over Square Top’s summit after a possible navigation error by one of the crew.
Valerie King, Regent of the Color Country Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution, told St. George News that she is proud of the junior cadets and their leaders for making their memorial gesture.
“All these people were connected together for a single and unique purpose,” King said. “To honor and remember the men who died while serving our nation, and to keep their memory alive by saying their names once more.”
On Dec. 11, a group of Dixie AFJROTC cadets joined a handful of adults for the treacherous climb to the top of the 7,050-foot peak, located a little over eight miles northwest of Gunlock Reservoir.
“It’s an endeavor getting out there,” Lieutenant Colonel (Ret.) Ken Field said. Field is the Senior Aerospace Science Instructor for the Dixie cadets and took the journey along with them and his wife.
Getting to the base of a mountain requires a sturdy four wheel drive vehicle with high clearance. There is no paved road and lots of rocks and loose debris all the way to the base.
Once there, it’s a two-mile trek that is almost straight up and then straight back down.
Neither the Field’s nor their dog were able to make it much further past the wreckage of the Boeing B-52 that crashed into the southern face of Square Top on April 11, 1983.
Variable weather conditions, dense fog and clouds that obscured mountain peaks contributed to the crash that killed the entire crew of seven aviators.
“As a pilot, to look out on that valley and know this was where they passed away, it was a melancholy feeling,” Field said.
The rest of the group went on to the summit. The steep ascent over loose rock was arduous but all seven cadets made it to the top. And all participated in the laying of the remembrance wreath and the recital of names.
“They said the names of each of the crew members, then passed the wreath to the next cadet, who would say the names, and then on down the line,” Roger Edington, who served with the Coast Guard for 30 years and now lives in Dammeron Valley, said.
Edington has made the memorial climb up Square Top on several occasions and he said this was the fourth time he’s done it with Wreaths Across America.
The accident hits home with him every day when he sits out in his backyard and can see Square Top Mountain across the valley, he noted.
“In 1983 when I was in the Coast Guard, I was just as old as the guys flying that plane,” Edington said. “I think, that could have been me.”
He described the trek up Square Top as “the hardest two miles I’ve ever hiked,” and there is debris and wreckage of plane all over the side of the mountain.
“It’s like that plane was put in a blender and all of the pieces were poured out on the mountain,” Edington said. “It’s quite the sight. It’s a sad story but I hope to keep the memories alive.”
Edington hopes the yearly tradition keeps bringing more cadets back to Square Top in the future.
“I hope it gets passed on to a younger generation,” Edington said. “I might have a couple more in me but I really hope younger groups are willing to do it every year.”
Photo Gallery
Dixie Air Force junior ROTC cadets and other volunteers on a memorial hike for Wreaths Across America, Square Top Mountain, Utah, Dec. 11, 2023 | Photo courtesy Billion Johnston, St. George News
Dixie Air Force junior ROTC cadets and other volunteers on a memorial hike for Wreaths Across America, Square Top Mountain, Utah, Dec. 11, 2023 | Photo courtesy Billion Johnston, St. George News
Dixie Air Force junior ROTC cadets and other volunteers on a memorial hike for Wreaths Across America, Square Top Mountain, Utah, Dec. 11, 2023 | Photo courtesy Billion Johnston, St. George News
Dixie Air Force junior ROTC cadets and other volunteers on a memorial hike for Wreaths Across America, Square Top Mountain, Utah, Dec. 11, 2023 | Photo courtesy Billion Johnston, St. George News
Dixie Air Force junior ROTC cadets and other volunteers on a memorial hike for Wreaths Across America, Square Top Mountain, Utah, Dec. 11, 2023 | Photo courtesy Billion Johnston, St. George News
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