COMMEMORATION SERVICE TO MARK 10 YEARS AFTER THE LOSS OF SWISSAIR FLIGHT 111

[Eye In The Sky]

COMMEMORATION SERVICE TO MARK 10 YEARS AFTER THE LOSS OF SWISSAIR FLIGHT 111

On September 2, 1998, Swissair Flight 111, en route from New York City to Switzerland, crashed into the Atlantic Ocean just off Peggy’s Cove, killing all 229 people on board.

A service to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the loss of Swissair Flight 111 will be held at 12 noon Tuesday, 2 Sep, in St. Brendan’s Chapel at CFB Halifax.

During the service the names of those who lost their lives in the tragedy will be read aloud. Personnel from Land Forces Atlantic, Maritime Forces Atlantic, Maritime Air Component Atlantic and 12 Wing Shearwater will also be remembered for their engagement in the search and recovery effort.

All are invited to attend the commemoration.  Dress of the day for serving members.

 

[Ex-Dragoon]

Its not a day I won't forget.

 

[brihard]

I lived in Bedford at the time- dad was posted to Dockyards. I actually heard the plane go in... Wondered what the weird, far-off noise was, then heard all kinds of sirens ten minutes later. Some time after that it broke on the news.

I remember how shaken up the Nova Scotia community was by it. I'm glad to see it being memorialized like this.

 

[Armymedic]

Its not a day I won't forget.

Nor any of us invovled in any way...

 

[gun plumber]

Its not a day I won't forget.

Nor I, not only for the tragedy but also that is where and when I met my wife.

 

[kratz]

I was tasked to assist as well. I know I will not forget.

 

[Binrat_69]

Me either because I was on board the HMCS Halifax for 31 days in Peggy's cove as part of the Naval response to the SWISSAIR Flight 111 disaster. I know I will not forget

 

[1feral1]

Nor I, not only for the tragedy but also that is where and when I met my wife.

Even in the darkest of circumstances, comes some light.

OWDU

 

[armyvern]

Although I wasn't involved with Swiss Air in any way, shape or form ...

I was deployed in CFS Alert when this flight went down ... the entire station was gathered around the television sets for days as feeds were beamed up to us.

We sat there then, our hearts breaking for the families, for Nova Scotians who were so affected by it, and for our brothers-in-arms as we watched them perform the direst of tasks with the utmost respect, dignity and professionalism.

Carry your heads high, and look after you; look after each other. You have indeed helped a great many through the worst of times.

 

[dangerboy]

Article in The Chronicle Herald

In our hearts forever
Hand-painted rocks woman’s tribute to 229 people lost in ‘’98 Swissair crash
By BEVERLEY WARE South Shore Bureau
Tue. Sep 2 - 6:26 AM

BAYSWATER — A delicate little white angel holds a heart to her breast, the white church down the road sits against a glorious blue sky, and a cheerful butterfly that only a little girl could have painted spreads its wings.

These uplifting scenes are painted on small heart-shaped rocks placed against a granite monument as cold and unmoving on this blustery day as the pain that fills the hearts of the family members who come here to remember.

This is the memorial site in Bayswater that pays tribute to the 229 men, women and children who died 10 years ago today when Swissair Flight 111 plunged into St. Margarets Bay.

Debra Paquin found each of the distinctively shaped rocks on the beach at Bayswater, just across the road from the memorial, where whitecaps crash against the beach and stir memories of a horrible night that in the hearts of many around here doesn’t seem so long ago.

When she picked up her paint brush and held the stones in her hands, Ms. Paquin would think about the people whose names are engraved on the monument, the lives they lived, and the lives that were never completed.

"I think about hope and love. I just hope the families take the rocks home and just know people here still care about them and still remember."

A memorial service will be held at the site at 11 a.m. today. Rev. Laura McCue of the Anglican church in Blandford is expecting about 70 families from the U.S. and Europe to be among those in attendance. There will be a reception at the Blandford Community Centre after the service.

Ms. Paquin was living in Denver when the plane crashed off Peggys Cove, but she was connected to the tragedy. Her sister Susan lived in Boutiliers Point for 28 years and helped as a member of the local ladies auxiliary. Susan’s husband, Allan Leslie, was a Black Point volunteer firefighter. He jumped into a boat and went out into the dark that night to search for survivors.

Ms. Paquin moved to Bayswater in 2000 to be closer to her sister, who had been diagnosed with lung cancer. Her sister died on Sept. 2 last year — the ninth anniversary of the plane crash.

During her frequent walks on the beach, Ms. Paquin kept finding heart-shaped pebbles.

"I collect hearts, I like hearts," she said.

By 2005, she had collected more than 200 such rocks and decided, given the connection between the community, its beach and the Swissair disaster, to paint one for each person killed in the crash. She had help from her mother, a niece, a neighbour and four little girls. Three of them — Beth, Emma and Charlotte MacDonald — she befriended after they found her lost tortoise Boris after hurricane Juan.

Together, they painted flowers, stars, butterflies, crosses and polka dots. They placed the rocks at the memorial the day before the seventh-anniversary service and they were all taken — indeed, 70 were taken the day Ms. Paquin placed them, which meant frantically painting 70 more overnight.

Nancy and John Hausman, who lost their son Tom in the crash, sent a card from Illinois thanking them.

"You are all very special people. You have all been a very special gift from God."

Mrs. Hausman picked out a maroon and white rock.

"I knew that one was for our Tom," she wrote, because those were his school colours.

Ms. Paquin wanted to do the Heart Rock Project, as she calls it, for the families again this year as they mark a decade since losing their loved ones. But this is the last time she will put the heart-shaped rocks at the site. Today marks a crucial milestone for families and friends, and time has moved on.

Ms. Paquin, who used to work at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, will now return to painting on canvas, but with a whole new perspective, she said.

( bware@herald.ca)

’I just hope the families take the rocks home and just know people here still care about them and still remember.’
DEBRA PAQUINBayswater resident

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