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Senators introduce Bakers Creek WWII memorial resolution
Abilene Reporter-News
Monday, July 28, 2008
By: Trish Choate
WASHINGTON -- Five senators introduced a resolution Monday expressing commitment to finding a permanent home for a World War II memorial for honorees, including crew members from a group now based at Dyess Air Force Base.
U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, is among those urging the Army to take action on a final site for the Bakers Creek Memorial in remembrance of 40 American servicemen and the lone survivor of a crash in Australia.
"This is an important effort to honor the sacrifice of those Americans who died in the crash," Cornyn, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said in a media release. "Congress must move quickly on this bipartisan effort to honor the loss of these fine American soldiers, who were part of the greatest generation."
The plane and its crew were from the 317th Troop Carrier Group, now called the 317th Airlift Group and based at Dyess, according to the 317th Veterans Group.
The 65th anniversary just passed for the June 14, 1943, crash of the B-17C Flying Fortress at Bakers Creek near Mackay, Australia.
The other four senators who introduced the legislation Monday included Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa.; Sen. Arlen Spector, R-Pa.; Sen. Ben Cardin, D-Md.; and Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo.
The small Bakers Creek marker sits on foreign soil at the Embassy of Australia in Washington. Efforts to find a permanent home on American soil have stalled because of a Supreme Court lawsuit involving donated monuments.
An advocate for victims and family members said the Bakers Creek issue isn't about a gift to the Army.
"The issue has become muddied, when Army lawyers believed that a future Supreme Court case involving a freedom of expression matter by a religious cult in Utah might also pertain to establishing a Bakers Creek Memorial on Army property," said Robert Cutler, director of the U.S. branch of the Bakers Creek Memorial Association.
The 2006 defense authorization bill empowered the secretary of the Army to establish a memorial to honor the crash victims, Cutler of Pennsylvania said in an e-mail.
The Army was, indeed, poised to issue a report recommending a location for the marker in early May. But military officials put it on hold until a Supreme Court case is resolved.
The court will hear an appeal from the city of Pleasant Grove, Utah, to refuse a marker from Summum, an obscure spiritual group in Utah.
Summum wants to donate a monument to its seven guiding principles to be erected in a city park. The group sued, claiming free speech rights. A lower court ruled the city must accept the monument since it allowed a donated Seven Commandments marker from a civic club, creating a public forum in the park.
The Supreme Court might hear the case in the fall. Meanwhile, the Army is not accepting any donated markers.
Cornyn said historic Fort Myer, Va., is "a fitting and worthy home for this memorial."
The B-17C was carrying crew members and servicemen returning to New Guinea after rest and recreation. Nicknamed "Miss Every Morning Fix It," the plane crashed shortly after takeoff.
The aircraft might have gone down because it was overloaded and had engine trouble, but researchers have never found a report on the cause.
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