On July 23, 1962, a U.S. Air Force Bomber on a training run crashed on Emigrant Peak, south of Livingston. The wreckage still remains on the peak, but all four servicemen on the plane died that day. They were all under 30 years old, all married. It took 58 years, but in 2020 President Trump signed a bill naming the crash site “B-47 Ridge” and providing a formal memorial of their lives.
There are many people to thank for that belated recognition, but if you ever wonder what just one plain old citizen can do, meet Bryan Wells. Now 66 years old, Wells has been a resident of Old Chico since he was 9. He decided to find the site when he was 15 and relying on hunting memories and instinct, he was successful. The debris, at first scattered, became more compacted and he finally arrived at the wreckage itself. He felt its importance, but he was only 15. It wasn’t until he got a phone call at age 60 from a retired air force officer that he became energized to do something about it. He called the U.S. Forest Service, hoping to get them to install a memorial plaque on the site. No luck.
He decided to create a memorial at the Chico Cemetery and got approval from the cemetery board. He talked locals into building a gazebo and erecting a plaque in the airmen’s honor. Then he contacted members of the four families who had lost a loved one. Twenty-five relatives and a whole lot of Montanans gathered at the Chico cemetery in 2016 for a memorial ceremony honoring the lives of the young men time had forgotten. Senator Steve Daines was one of them.
Sometimes it really does take an act of Congress to get something done. Led by Senators Daines and Tester, a bill naming the wreckage site “B-47 Ridge” with a plaque memorializing these young men’s lives became law.
Art Taft and Kurt Baltrusch – another two guys who will move heaven and earth to get things done – were fascinated by the story and presented it at our Rotary meeting last week. With Veterans Day coming up, Kurt said, it just seemed appropriate. That’s pretty much what Bryan Wells said when the act became law one year ago this month. He liked the fact that Montana cares about its veterans. He especially liked what the memorial communicates to the families of those four fallen men. Getting to know them over the last five years, he had developed a keen appreciation of the sacrifice that families of the fallen make. “It stays with them forever,” he said.
The story is an inspiring reminder of the service above self all around us. Thanks for telling it, Art and Kurt!
