What was once Fort Campbell Memorial Park on Fort Campbell Boulevard has been rechristened Gander Memorial Park and will be receiving new signage and ground was broken Tuesday to celebrate.
A crowd gathered in the park where the new sign, which is larger and brighter than the old Fort Campbell Park sign, will be installed in the next couple of weeks. Hopkinsville Mayor Carter Hendricks says Hopkinsville will always do what it can to honor those heroes who made the ultimate sacrifice in 1985.
101st Airborne Division Acting Senior Commander Brigadier General Todd Royar says the name change was a longtime coming and service men and women take comfort in knowing that this community will never forget them.
Christian County Chamber of Commerce Military Affairs Committee Director Lindsey Geraci says they hope to have the new sign erected by November 9. The park at the intersection of Fort Campbell Boulevard and the Pennyrile Parkway honors the 248 Fort Campbell soldiers and crew members who died when their plane crashed soon after takeoff near Gander, Newfoundland in December 1985.
An example of what the new sign will look like:
