MOULTRIE — On Sept. 26, the John Benning Chapter hosted an event at Spence Field Airbase in Moultrie, memorializing the lives of 62 young pilots who lost their lives in fatal air crashes while training there during World War II. A marker was commissioned by the chapter and inscribed with a brief history of the base which lists the names of the fallen pilots on the reverse side. The historic marker was installed at the location of the original WWII flight tower, which still stands on the base.

In order to provide a lasting memento of the event for living descendants of the 62 airmen, the chapter published a tribute book that was presented to the 56 descendants who attended, with other copies being mailed to those families who were unable to attend.

Realizing the importance of documenting this historic event for posterity, the chapter contacted the Library of Congress, which has accepted the 112-page tribute book, “Silver Wings, They Only Wanted To Fly,” for their files, the DAR said in a press release late last week. The book devotes a page to each of the fallen pilots and contains photographs showing family collections of memorabilia and letters between the individual pilots and family members as well as many other interesting pages, including photographs of the base during World War II. The historic tribute book has also been submitted to the Air Force Historical Foundation and added to their Air University Library Digital Archive, Maxwell AFB, Alabama.

The public is invited to view the book locally at the Odom Genealogy Library and the Museum of Colquitt County History.