Despite concerns about COVID-19, a YANKY 72 commemoration is still slated to be held next month.
The third annual ceremony is slated for 6 p.m. Saturday, July 11, at the YANKY 72 Memorial across U.S. 82 from Mississippi Valley State University. Those gathered will remember the 16 service members who died when the U.S. Marine Corps’ KC-130-T aircraft in which they were traveling crashed into soybean fields on July 10, 2017. There were no survivors.
Investigators with the Fourth Marine Aircraft Wing released a report in 2018 stating a propeller blade broke off and smashed into the plane’s fuselage, causing the plane to break apart and crash into the fields next to U.S. 82 near Itta Bena.
Specific plans for the event are still being made. Kelsey Addison, communications coordinator for the observance, said she wants to keep everyone safe while also honoring those who lost their lives, and those public health decisions come slowly.
“We’ll have to go day by day as we get closer to the event,” she said. “We’ve been working with government officials to make sure we have social distancing in place. If we need to have people wearing masks, then that is certainly something we will do.”
She said several of the service members’ families are planning to attend.
Her father, Clifton Addison of Purvis, chairman of the YANKY 72 memorial committee, sees this year’s ceremony as more homegrown than ones in the past. He is with the Marine Corps League in Mississippi.
“We want it to be a more laid-back feel to this ceremony and really include the families,” he said. “Basically we want to have a more local feel.”
Similar to past ceremonies, this year’s event will be broadcast live on Facebook.
• Contact Adam Bakst at 581-7233 or abakst@gwcommonwealth.com. Twitter: @AdamBakst_GWCW
