On Thursday, December 12, 1985, the chartered DC-8 plane carrying 248 members of the 101st Airborne Division of Fort Campbell, Kentucky and 8 crew members returning home for Christmas from peace keeping duties in the Middle East, crashed during takeoff in Gander, Newfoundland. The following Monday, December 16, 1985, President and Mrs. Reagan visited Fort Campbell for a memorial service honoring those soldiers.
Todd Martice Jennings
Sergeant Todd Martice Jennings was born in Yonkers, New York January 31, 1965 Yonkers General Hospital, Yonkers, New York. He graduated from Yonkers High School June 1983. He was in the delayed entry program and was a corporal in the Reserve Officers Training Corps. He was the author of three poems: Lucifer Directive, A Love of my own, and If You Only Knew.
He was buried in Section 60 of Arlington National Cemetary March 4, 1986. His survivors are his mother, three sisters, neices, nephews and a host of friends.
Todd’s mother (Mrs. Sydney Delores Jennings) said: “My son was on that fatal flight. The site has him listed as a Specialist 4th. Even though he was just 20 years old when the incident occured he was a Sergeant.”
Michael Robert Patterson was born in Arlington and is the son of a former officer of the US Army. So it was no wonder that sooner or later his interests drew him to American history and especially to American military history. Many of his articles can be found on renowned portals like the New York Times, Washingtonpost or Wikipedia.
Reviewed by: Michael Howard