Arrow Air 1285, a charter DC-8, crashed 30 years ago in Gander, Newfoundland. It took the lives of 248 members of the U.S. Army’s 101st Airborne Division, and eight crew members. They had just completed their peacekeeping mission in the Sinai Peninsula. Among the dead were soldiers from Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, Vermont and Maine.
More U.S. soldiers died at Gander in 1985 than in any other single incident involving U.S. forces in recent memory. More died, for example, than those killed at the U.S. Marine Corps barracks in Beirut two years earlier. It remains the worst single air disaster in history for the U.S. military, and it was Canada’s worst air disaster, too.
The flight home started in Cairo and then proceeded to Germany with a stop in Gander on the way. Its ultimate destination was Fort Campbell, Kentucky. Moments before the crash, many of the soldiers had phoned home, alerting loved ones that they had touched down in Canada and were about to start the final leg of their journey back to the U.S. No doubt all were looking forward to enjoying a wonderful Christmas. Instead, all perished seconds after the plane took off.
Their bodies were taken to Dover Air Force Base outside Washington, D.C., a few days later. They were honored by the late President Ronald Reagan who attended the memorial service for them.
The Canadian Aviation Safety Board’s final report on the crash pointed to a possible ice buildup on the wings as the cause, but this finding was challenged almost immediately. Charges of a coverup have persisted over the years. However, the possibility that an act of terrorism was involved via a bomb smuggled aboard the aircraft has never been proven. That said, many whose family members perished in Gander in 1985 have expressed their misgivings about the official report, and do not accept it.
When the late Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger published his 450-plus page account in 1990 about his service in that post under President Reagan from 1981 to 1987 — “Fighting For Peace: Seven Critical Years In The Pentagon” — he addressed key events in December 1985, but no mention whatsoever is made about the tragedy in Gander.
A monument has been erected by the Canadians close to the crash site. A lone soldier stands silently, holding hands with two small children. One of the children is extending a hand clutching an olive branch.
Thirty years after this crash, we should take a moment to remember these many peacekeepers who lost their lives on this date as our search for peace continues.
Peter J. Brown is a reporter for the Provincetown Banner. He lives in Truro, Massachusetts. His previous stories and column on this crash first appeared in the Bangor Daily News in 1995.