Memorial event honours victims and survivors of Arctic crash
Survivors of Boxtop Flight 22 gather around the memorial cairn at the National Air Force Museum of Canada at Canadian Forces Base Trenton. Photo by Selena Steele-Clough, QNet News
QUINTE WEST – Oct. 30 will always be an important day for the survivors of a crash at Canada’s most northerly military base, as well as the families and friends of those who didn’t make it.
On Sunday afternoon, Canadian Forces Base Trenton held a memorial ceremony for the 25th anniversary of the crash of what is known as Boxtop Flight 22 – a CC-130 Hercules aircraft carrying out a resupply mission as part of Operation Boxtop. The plane was carrying 18 passengers and crew on Oct. 30, 1991, when it hit a rocky cliff and crashed 16 kilometres south of the Canadian Forces station in Alert, Nunavut.
A moment of silence for the lives lost in the crash of Boxtop Flight 22. Photo by Selena Steele-Clough, QNet News
In a massive rescue effort, 13 lives were saved while five people died. The rescue team had to deal with brutal weather conditions and extreme cold.
Lt.-Gen. Mike Hood, commander of the Royal Canadian Air Force, addressed the crowd – which included survivors and families of the dead – ones at Sunday’s memorial service outside the National Air Force Museum of Canada at CFB Trenton.
“It’s been an even longer journey for the families and loved ones of our five comrades in arms who perished in that crash,” Hood said.
The selfless rescuers still remember the day like it was yesterday, he said.
“Every day our men and women operate in the High Arctic, and we must remember the unique challenges that the environment presents as we fulfill our role,” he said.
Wilma De Groot, one of the survivors of Flight 22, said it was a very emotional ceremony for her.
“It was really meaningful to see the families of the ones that didn’t survive the crash, because it’s been a very long time since we all have seen them,” said De Groot.
Monty Montgomery, a survivor of Boxtop Flight 22, pays silent tribute to those who died. Photo by Selena Steele-Clough, QNet News
She vividly recalls her terror right after the impact as the survivors waited and hoped for rescue.
“You don’t know how long you can wait for. And we did lose a passenger during the wait to be rescued,” she said.
A cairn shaped like the tail of the Hercules was unveiled at Sunday’s ceremony and dedicated to the victims, survivors and rescuers.
The wreckage of the CC-130 Hercules remains in its final resting place where it has been for the last 25 years, maintained by the harsh climate in Alert.
Print This Post
