A public ceremony is planned for Friday afternoon in Wichita to mark the 50th anniversary of the Piatt Street plane crash.
As KMUW’s Deborah Shaar reports, Wichita’s mayor issued an official Proclamation during Tuesday’s City Council meeting.
Mayor Carl Brewer designated Friday, January 16, 2015 as the Piatt Street Plane Crash 50th Year Remembrance.
“I call upon the people of Wichita and McConnell Air Force Base to mourn and to give tribute to those who lost their lives," Mayor Brewer says. "To honor those who violently fought the fires to rescue the living.”
30 people were killed in 1965 when a fully loaded KC 135 tanker crashed into the neighborhood near Piatt Street and 21st Street minutes after take-off from McConnell Air Force Base.
Council member Lavonta Williams lived on Piatt at the time, and says she was grateful to finally meet the person several years ago who saved her brother that day.
“He was severely burned and someone unbeknownst to us took him to the hospital and we really credit that person with saving his life,” she says.
A public ceremony and tribute to the crash victims is planned for 3pm today at the Piatt Street Memorial Park Monument.