At Connie Park, Tinker Air Force Base, Okla., there is a memorial dedicated to the crewmembers of YUKLA 27.

The crewmembers died Sept. 22, 1995, when the E-3 Airborne Warning and Control System aircraft they were aboard crashed shortly after takeoff from Elmendorf Air Force Base, Alaska.

Among the 24 crewmembers killed was Tech. Sgt. Ernest Parrish of the 381st Intelligence Squadron, Elmendorf Air Force Base, Alaska. The E-3 aircraft received severe bird strikes which critically damaged two engines and caused the crash.

The landscaped memorial consists of a plaque engraved with an E-3 and the words to the hymn, "Lord, Guard and Guide the Men Who Fly." On the reverse of the granite memorial are inscribed the names and crew positions of the crewmembers of YUKLA 27.

The concrete pad on which the monument rests is, symbolically cut into 24 sections. Behind the plaque fly the American and Canadian flags.

May Spokesman On-Line