About 50 people Tuesday recognized the 75th anniversary of the plane crash that killed 16 U.S. Air Force paratroopers in Peru, Massachusetts.
A Douglas C-53 transport plane carrying 19 U.S. Air Force paratroopers crashed in Peru in August 1942. Sixteen died. The plane had been heading for Providence, Rhode Island.
The paratroopers were returning from a night jumping training mission. They were based out of Fort Bragg, North Carolina, and were likely to join the D-Day invasion forces.
The memorial in Peru, dedicated in 1946, is a 5 foot-high stone mound with a plaque listing the names of the dead.