A ceremony held in 100 Mile House is evidence that, 50 years later, the victims in one of Canada’s bloodiest aviation mysteries haven’t been forgotten.
Close to 80 people affected by the downing of Canadian Pacific Air Lines Flight 21 gathered on July 8 to mourn and mark the 50th anniversary of the plane crash, which claimed the lives of all 52 passengers and crew on board when it exploded in the sky and came down about 25 miles west of 100 Mile House.
It was an emotional and cathartic scene at the stone cairn memorial on Airport Road near the tranquil water of the 100 Mile Marsh.
The stone cairn memorializing the doomed flight was constructed in 2013. It displays the names of the victims. Since all the suspects were on board the Douglas DC-6 airliner, that list includes the name of the man investigators thought responsible for the unsolved massacre.
Flight 21 was on route from Vancouver to Prince George when a bomb tore apart the tail section of the aircraft and sent it spiralling out of the sky and into the woods north of Gustafsen Lake, on July 8, 1965.
Mourners travelled from far away to mark the anniversary. From places such as Ontario, New York, Scotland and Norway. Some had trekked out to the remote crash site the day before.
From those who couldn’t be there, the hour-long ceremony heard letters and poems, more of the small pieces of individual stories that make up a larger history outlined by tragedy. The passengers had different reasons for being on that plane, and they were from different places. But they all shared in the same terrible fate, respective families connected since by grief and circumstance.
In solemn conclusion, the names of the dead were read aloud, accompanied by a soft and mournful guitar and banjo melody, and the floating of yellow and white balloons, which eventually disappeared into the same blue sky where catastrophe struck five decades ago.
Reading the names of the victims was local resident Stephen Pellizzari, a friend of Didi Henderson, whose father Dr. Wallace Emo died in the crash.
(Henderson, a 100 Mile House resident, has for many years been instrumental in commemorating the tragedy.)
For Pellizzari, it was a privilege and an honour to help mark the event.
“You’ll notice on that list there are several times where it’s the same last name [that the victims share], so you think about the devastation of those families. I don’t have words to describe it. Honestly, it was very touching. That’s quite a number of people.”
“The main thing is to think about the human toll,” he adds. “Think about how we can support and rebuild and go forward in life.”
Added to the memorial site recently is a plaque next to the stone cairn in recognition of those involved in the recovery efforts, those who volunteered with “courage and compassion.”
Dick Minato, a longtime local resident, sat quietly among the mourners in the sweltering afternoon heat. Minato was one of the many locals who took part in the recovery effort the day after the crash.
It’s not easy, but he recalls walking abreast with many others amongst the rubble, scanning the charred forest floor and marking debris from the aircraft for investigators.
“You could see the smoke from town,” he remembers. “It was terrible.”
On this day of remembrance, he’s amazed at the large number that turned out.
“I’m glad they had this 50-year dedication.”
It was 100 Mile House resident Ruth Peterson who spearheaded the fundraising for the construction of the stone cairn in 2013. She visited the remote crash site with her husband a few years ago and was touched by what she saw and she wanted to create a more accessible and fitting place for people to reflect on their loved ones.
Many family members of the victims approached her at the ceremony and expressed their thanks, and together they fought back tears.
“To see their pain on a visible level, it’s tough,” Peterson says following the emotional ceremony.
“Some people have come from across the world to be here. It brings home how important [the ceremony] was.”
She adds, “I think it’s important to keep the history of the event alive. Some people died saying ‘everyone forgot’. It speaks to that; it tells the community and the families of Flight 21 that we didn’t forget; we’ll never forget.”
