By Edwin Taylor, staff writer
From the November 16,1994 edition of The New Castle Record
Lasat Friday, Veterans’ Day was a time to honor those men and women who have fought to preserve the liberties of our country and those abroad.
On a remote mountaintop on the border between Roanoke and Craig counties, about 40 veterans and on-lookers gathered at the site of a 1971 plane crash that took the life of America’s most decorated World War II soldier, Audie Murphy.
The Virginia Tech Color Guard led a solemn detail of veterans from Christiansburg’s VFW Post 531 up the final 50 yards to the crest of Brush Mountain. VFW Post 531 was the group responsible for lobbying to have a monument dedicated at the site to Murphy’s honor.
It was a lobbying process which would take three years to complete. The site of the crash on the slopes of Brush Mountain was U.S. Forest Service land, and nothing could be done without a permit.
Even after a permit was granted, access to the mountain was over private land, and some farmers were reluctant to grant easements. To provide access to the simple, square granite marker, the Forest Service re-routed the Appalachian Trail. Now, however, there is a graveled access road with a parking area within about a mile of the monument.
Clarence Viers, VFW post commander at the time of the crash and Korean War veteran, spoke to those assembled about the sacrifices veterans made for this county. He also recounted the struggle it took to have the monument placed.
He credited Bill Craft with the proposal which set the wheels in motion for the project in June of 1971.
“As a lawyer, I knew you had to have a permit,” Craft said. “The Forest Service originally turned us down but we enlisted the help of legislators.”
Their persistence led to the dedication of a monument at the site three years after the death of Murphy, Viers said about 140 people attended the original dedication. The post has not had any other ceremonies on the site since its dedication. Viers said members from the post check on it from time to time to keep the area clean. The marker has faired well over the years with only slight repair visible used to patch some damage from a rifle shot.
Friday’s ceremony, a joint effort between the post and the Forest Service, marked the twentieth anniversary of the monument.
Murphy was born in Kingston, Tex., on June 20, 1924. He joined the infantry at the age of 18 to serve in World War II. Murphy’s heroic actions in Jan. 1945 stopped the German advance into France. He received the Congressional Medal of Honor, the United States highest military award. In addition to the 23 other U.S. medals, he received decorations from France and Belgium.
Following the war he wrote his memoirs, To Hell and Back, ad starred in over 40 films.
According to the June 3, 1971, issue of The New Castle Record, the wreckage of the plane was found about 100 yards below the crest of Brush Mountain.
-Prepared by Shelly Koon
Photo credit:
From The New Castle Record archives
