By Ruby Annas, The Graham Star
Hendersonville – U.S. Rep. Chuck Edwards (R-N.C.) has introduced a bill to the House of Representatives to relocate a memorial to the Cherohala Skyway in Graham County to honor the nine Air Force crew members who lost their lives in the Amore 66 plane crash.
U.S. Don Davis (D-Snow Hill) is the co-lead of the bipartisan legislation. Sen. Thom Tillis (R-Cornelius) is leading the Senate companion bill.
“This legislation is long overdue,” Tillis said in a release. “I am proud to work with Congressman Edwards to ensure their legacy lives on and their sacrifice is not forgotten.”
On Tuesday, Aug. 31, 1982, a crew of nine – training for radar evasion – departed from then-Charleston Air Force Base in South Carolina with the call sign “Amore 66.” A late-summer storm brewed over the North Carolina mountains, but Amore 66 was still given permission to fly at 1:50 p.m.
There was no further contact until the wreckage was found Wednesday, Sept. 1, 1982. The plane had crashed at 2:27 p.m., Aug. 31, 1982, into Mount Johns Knob, a peak that marks the border between Monroe County, Tenn., and Graham County.
The tail section of the plane was thrown over the summit and landed in Graham County, a half-mile from the impact site, at Mile Marker 2 – where there is now a highway rest area. All nine crew members were killed and a granite marker honoring them currently sits on private property six miles from the crash site.
Phil Horne was supposed to be aboard Amore 66, but reassigned just before the flight. On Memorial Day 2013, he – and other veterans – were riding motorcycles on the skyway, when he realized that he was near the crash site.
He was determined to have a memorial placed there.
The families of the deceased requested the memorial be relocated to the Stratton Ridge Rest Area at Mile Marker 2. The new location would be closer to the crash site.
The private supporters of the site pledged to move the monument themselves. The bill gives them authority to do so.
The date the memorial is moved will be determined after the passage of the bill.
“The bill will cost taxpayers no additional funds, and will help give the families of crew members who died in the tragic accident the authority they need to work with the U.S Forest Service to move this memorial and keep the memories of the fallen alive for years to come,” Edwards said in a news release.