Honoring Lost Brothers, This day in the Cold War

[Mailagnas maqqas Dunaidonas]

It was another sunny morning 46 years ago today that our Air Force brothers
flew out of Incirlik Air Base, Turkey on what was briefed as another routine
recon mission. The thought never entered any crew member's mind that this would
be his last mission.

In a sense, each man on that tragic flight was just doing his job--showing up
to fly another mission because his name appeared on the crew scheduling
board; nothing extraordinary about that. On the other hand, each of 60528's
seventeen crewmembers was a pioneering hero who paved the way with his life on
September 2, 1958, so that my fellow Silent Warriors would experience a safer flying environment in the decades that followed, each of us playing a part in the front line of the Cold War, and in subsequent conflicts, including the current war on terror.

Our seventeen Silent Warrior brothers did not die in vain in faraway Armenia
in 1958; their sacrifice tightened up mission abort criteria that undoubtedly
saved an untold number of other Silent Warrior lives on subsequent "routine" recon missions.
So in your own way as you and yours enjoy this Labor Day weekend, I ask that you pay special tribute to those seventeen heroes and their families, along with all the other fallen heroes who have paid a high price for the freedoms we enjoy.
A Silent Warrior Remembrance

[Annabelle]

God Bless the Silent Warrior!

[celtica]

Those who have lost their life to allow us to live free, will never be forgotten.
We'll keep them in our hearts for ever.
God bless them.

[MacErca]

I have to salute all of our fallen bretheren, and all the Men and Women who have served this Country and are serving even now.
God Bless them and you.

[TheCarolinaScotsman]

May their memory live forever in the hearts of free men (and women) everywhere. There have been so many who gave "all". We have been truly blessed in that there have always been those who were and are ready to step forward and do what needs to be done. God bless them all and be with them and their families.

[RobertH]

Blessings, prayers, and thanks to all of my comrades. Some are still serving, others will remain at their posts until we see each other again on the high ground. I raise a glass to all of you - especially to the one who was there on "that day".