Melinda Reynolds drove seven hours from Daleville, Ala., to be in Hopkinsville today for a memorial service in honor of 248 Fort Campbell soldiers who died in a plane crash 20 years ago today at Gander, Newfoundland.
Her Uncle Ricky - Spc. John Wright - was one of those killed when the DC-8 charter jet crashed following take-off.
Reynolds was among a crowd of about 300 people who attended the ceremony at the Fort Campbell Memorial Park in Hopkinsville. Another service was conducted earlier this morning at Fort Campbell.
"I'm here for my family. We don't want to forget," said Reynolds, 25, a nursing student and mother of two.
Several relatives of the Gander victims attended the ceremony at Fort Campbell and then rode on buses to the Hopkinsville ceremony. A reception in their honor was being conducted later at the Hopkinsville-Christian County Conference and Convention Center.
"May God bless the memory of the heroes of the Gander crash," Mayor Rich Liebe said.
Today also marked the rededication of the Hopkinsville memorial, which features a statue of a soldier and stone markers with the names of the soldiers.
A wreath was placed at the foot of the soldier's statue.
Most of the Gander victims were members of the 502nd Infantry Regiment. They were returning home following a six-month peacekeeping mission in the Sinai. Everyone on board, including eight crew members, was killed.
Another memorial was being conducted today at Gander.
Reynolds, who was 5 years old when her uncle died, said she has visited Hopkinsville before.
Her grandparents, Walter and Ann Wright, brought her several times when she was a child to see the local memorial. They could not attend the 20th anniversary service because Ann Wright, the mother of Spc. John Wright, has leukemia and is in the hospital.
Reynolds was taking photographs to share with her grandmother when she returns home.
Jennifer P. Brown can be reached by telephone at 887-3236 or by e-mail at jpbrown@kentuckynewera.com.