National Historic Marker Day 2023
For the third year in a row, National Historic Marker Day takes place on the final Friday in April, which is today, April 28, 2023. The William G. Pomeroy Foundation, self-described as “a philanthropic organization based in Syracuse, NY”, created this day to encourage volunteers to clean markers and learn about local history. I first learned of this holiday back in early November 2022 while attending the New England Museum Association (NEMA) Annual Conference in Springfield, MA. (My three-part summary of this three-day conference is available here, here, and here.)
Historic markers funded by the Pomeroy Foundation fall under several different categories, including traditional markers for sites featured on the National Register of Historic Places, the Historic Transportation Canal Marker (perhaps this style of marker will come to the Blackstone Canal in the future!), “Hungry for History” about local food, “Legends and Lore” featuring tall tales and ghost stories, “Patriot Burials” to mark cemeteries containing the remains of American Revolutionary War soldiers, and the New York State Historic Marker. In addition to preserving local history, the Pomeroy Foundation supports blood and bone marrow drives, along with providing support for patients with blood cancers and the organizations who help them.
For my historic marker, I chose the B-24 Liberator Crash Site in Uxbridge, MA. Located in a residential neighborhood about a mile from the center of Uxbridge, the sign and nearby monument are easy to miss even if you are searching for it. (Unfortunately, the automation in Google maps refuses to add the memorial to its map. If you know how to remediate this issue, my help ticket is linked here.) Local historian Jim Ignasher, who has written several books on Rhode Island history just south of the border, described the events surround the crash for the blog New England Aviation History back in 2015. The crash took place during a routine flight formation practice where three B-24 bombers flew closely together. They were returning to Westover Air Field, now called Westover Air Reserve Base, located in Chicopee, MA, when two planes collided. One plane crashed into the Uxbridge forest, while the other managed to return to the air field along with the undamaged plane. Out of the seven young men aboard, all in their late teens to mid twenties, only two survived by parachuting away. Forty acres of forest burned, requiring fire trucks from Uxbridge and the neighboring town of Douglas along with two state firetrucks to subdue the blaze and protect the downtown area.
Today, a metal marker set back about twenty feet from the road marks the entrance to a short trail leading to the stone memorial. Besides displaying the names of the deceased fight crew and a brief explanation for the memorial, the area has a melted piece of aluminum from the original plane and a fairly new bench donated in 2013 by Scout BSA Troop 1122 as part of an Eagle Project lead. As for cleaning the the historic marker, I raked the area and put the American flags back in place.