Families, vets 'still healing' 30 years after Gander Arrow Air crash

A military base in Kentucky iscommemoratingthe anniversary of the deadliest aviation disaster in Canadian history.

Saturday marks 30 years since the Arrow Air plane crash in Gander that killed 256 people 248 American soldiers and eight crew.

• Arrow Air crash memorial revived
• Arrow Air commemoration cancelled in Gander

"Everyone [remembers] where they were when this happened," Ireka Sanders of the 101st Airborne Division told CBC's Central Morning Show.

"For us, it's kind of a somber occasion and it's also [mixed with] a little anxiety," she said.

"There's a lot of tears from the families and veterans still, a lot of them are still healing ... it's a time for us to think about what those soldiers meant to us and how we implement them into what we do every day."

The soldiers, known as the Screaming Eagles, were heading back to Fort Campbell, Kentucky for Christmas following a peacekeeping mission on the Sinai Peninsula in Egypt.

After stopping to refuel in Gander, the plane crashed just seconds after takeoff.

Forever tied to Gander

Sanders said three decades later, the American base still feels connected to Newfoundland.

"We have one family member who is a breast cancer survivor and she went to an event and they had a Gander, Newfoundland team," she said.

"She was able to go over to them and explain that she lost her brother in the crashand said they sat together andcried together and everyone remembered."

A monument called The Silent Witness,which features a U.S. peacekeeper accompanied by two children,stands at the site of the crash inGander.

It's important to keep the ceremony going, Sanderssaid, because "veterans wantthe families to know that they still mourn with them."

Children,she said, want to meet and speak with soldiers who knew and worked alongside their deceased parents.

"This year we have people who were eight and who are 38 now, who came back to reflect," she said."This community was so heavily impacted, they just can't foget."

Fort Campbell is being opened up to families and veterans Friday and Saturday. Familieswill be matched with a soldier of a similar rank to their lost loved one.

"We're having a social that night so the families and the veterans can reconnect. Someone can walk around with a sign [identifying them] and [they] may possibly be the veteran that served with their parent, or their uncle or brother."

Memorial services areplannedat the base and in a nearby town Saturday morning.

More than 560 people have signed up to attend.

Larry Hudson remembers

One of the only civiliansallowed on the scene in the aftermath of the crashon Dec. 12, 1985, was CBC reporter Larry Hudson.

Hudson spoke to CBC News in 1992 about the experience.

Arrow Air

9 years ago

Duration 4:46

December 12th marks the 30th anniversary of the Arrow Air crash in Gander. Former CBC reporter Larry Hudson was one of the first reporters on scene and told our own Doug Greer what that was like.