On a quiet night, nine miles north of Harlem, Montana the lives of thirteen airmen were lost when two C-141B Starlifter Cargo Planes collided. The thirteen crew members from McChord Air Force Base were on a low level refueling exercise on that fateful night of November 30, 1992.

Though the thirteen who gave their lives in service to their country are mourned deeply, the community of Harlem and its surrounding area were united in the outpouring of love and generosity to those who came to bring them home with dignity.

The question we always ask is 'Why'? We don't have the answer, but we worship the One who does.

High Flight

Oh, I have slipped the surly bonds of earth,

And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings.

Sunward I've climbed and joined the tumbling mirth

Of sun-split clouds – and done a hundred things

You have not dreamed of – wheeled and soared and swung

High in the sunlit silence. Hovering there,

I've chased the shouting wind along and flung

My eager craft through footless halls of air.

Up, up the long, delirious, burning blue

I've topped the wind-swept heights with easy grace, Where never lark, or even eagle flew:

And, while with silent, lifting mind I've trod

The high untrespassed sanctity of space,

Put out my hand and touched the face of God.

• - John Gillespie Magee, Jr. 1922-1941

Capt. David J. Sielewiez DOB: June 1964 POB: Albany, New York

Capt. Jimmy Lee Jenkins DOB: 8 April 1965 POB: Langdale, Alabama

Capt. Mark Alan Eister DOB: 6 September 1960 POB: Chicago, Illinois

Tech. Sgt. David Richard Young DOB: 27 February 1960 POB: Grand Rapids, Michigan

Staff Sgt. Terrence J. Miyoshi DOB: 5 August 1958 POB: Chicago, Illinois

Sr. Airman Wilbert Tyron Brown III DOB: 10 September 1971 POB: Galveston, Texas

Airman 1st Class George Anthony Moreland DOB: 11 September 1970 POB: Lodi, California

Staff Sgt. Monte Lercy Bissett DOB: 19 July 1964 POB: Myrtle Point, Oregon

Tech. Sgt. Peter Leo Osterfeld DOB: 12 June 1958 POB: Montreal, Canada

1st Lt. Edward H. Hoyle III DOB: 28 October POB: Stoughton, Massachusetts

Capt. Kevin M. Maguire DOB: 9 February 1960 POB: Dover, Delaware

Capt. Banks E. Wilkinson DOB: 28 November 1963 POB: Fayetteville, Arkansas

Capt. Edward Desire Parent, Jr. DOB: 20 May 1964 POB: Hartford, Connecticut