Vigil will honor service members killed in plane crash
A public vigil, led by local faith leaders, will be held Saturday evening near the Stewart Air National Guard Base in memory of the nine Stewart-based Marines and seven other service members who died in a plane crash Monday.
The vigil is scheduled for 7 p.m. on a hilltop at the Rock Tavern Congregation, 9 Tavern Road, that overlooks the base.
Cash donations made at the vigil will be given to the local families of Marines who died in the crash, organizers say.
“We mourn the loss of the Marines and the sailor who died on Monday and want the families and community to know we are here with them and for them in their grief,” the Rev. Chris J. Antal, president of the Greater Newburgh Interfaith Council and minister at the Unitarian Universalist Rock Tavern Congregation, said in a prepared statement.
Sixteen service members — the nine Marines from Stewart and six Marines and one sailor stationed at Camp Lejeune, N.C. — died when the KC-130 refueling and transport plane in which they were flying crashed about 4 p.m. Monday near Itta Bena, Miss. The plane, based at Stewart, was transporting the Camp Lejeune service members from North Carolina to training in Arizona.
The cause of the crash has not been determined, but military officials have said the problem that led to the disaster occurred at cruising altitude.