"We get together with friends every year on December 5th for a little social gathering and a minute of silence
in remembrance of the soldiers lost on the Flight 19 mission." --Bjørn Madsen, Copenhagen, Denmark
Bjørn Madsen, a Physician from Denmark visited the Naval Air Station Fort Lauderdale Museum, and we learned that for 30 years, him and a group of friends and their children, have been holding a memorial ceremony for Flight 19.
He writes:
"I am back in Denmark after a fantastic holiday in Florida. A big THANK YOU to all at the museum for showing me around and presenting all the information and the exhibits. Especially, thanks to David Epstein for sharing some of his memories and taking me on a little tour around the museum. As I mentioned, (the memorial ceremony) started as an impulse when we were all living at university campus, when some of the guys read about the mystery of the lost airplanes. From there it has grown into a tradition - now, 30 years later, we still get together every year (and now with several children joining the tradition !). It was an experience for me to see the actual Flight 19 monument and the museum in Ft. Lauderdale. I have taken lots of photos that I look forward to share with my friend in just a few days."
December 5, 2012:
"Here in Denmark we were 16 joining together on Dec. 5th, 2012. I see some of the friends regularly, others just turn up this one time every year. Naturally, we have to do things a little differently. Everything is strictly INDOORS, since this is early winter in Denmark. We had a bit of snow in the air outside (this weekend we expect down to -15 C during the night), and a couple of guys were missing because they were sick with flu. We don´t have a monument - but we DO have model airplanes, and the reproduction poster of one of the Bob Jenny paintings. We get together late in the afternoon (most are working daytime) and keep a moment of silence around 8 p.m. (which with the 6 hour time difference follows very close to your ceremony in Ft. Lauderdale). It seems like we have had some success in bringing the spirit on to the next generation ! One of the guys told me that his youngest daughter (age 13) had chosen Flight 19 as the subject for one of her school projects, and another young guy had also written a school essay inspired by the Flight 19 story." --Bjørn Madsen
Thank you Bjørn for your efforts and to all the Group. It is wonderful to see that you all are teaching the younger generation about this time in history. We welcome you as our new member! Thank you for your support and we hope to see you again!
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