The crash of Boxtop 22: “There were many heroes that day”

News Article / November 17, 2016

By Lieutenant-General Mike Hood
Commander of the Royal Canadian Air Force

A cairn commemorating the crash of Boxtop 22 and the five Canadian Armed Forces personnel who died in the crash has been placed on the grounds of the National Air Force Museum of Canada in Trenton, Ontario. The commander of the Royal Canadian Air Force spoke during a ceremony of commemoration that was held there on October 30, 2016 – exactly 25 years after the crash. Here are his remarks.

Ladies and Gentlemen, members of the Royal Canadian Air Force, and, most importantly, the families of those who perished in the crash of Boxtop 22, the survivors of the crash, and those who were involved in the rescue effort.

Welcome.

It is a great pleasure for me to be here with you today for this ceremony commemorating Boxtop 22.

The cairn being unveiled today has made a long journey.

More than four thousand kilometres – from Canadian Forces Station Alert, where it was dedicated at the site of the crash of Boxtop 22 in June – all the way here to Trenton where it will be a permanent commemoration of both loss and heroism.

But it’s been an even longer journey for the families and loved ones of our five comrades in arms who perished in that crash:

Captain John Couch

Captain Judy Trépanier

Master Warrant Officer Tom Jardine

Warrant Officer Robert Grimsley

and Master Corporal Roland Pitre.

And a long journey as well for the 13 men and women who survived – as well as their families and friends. A journey of physical and psychological recovery, counted in years, not it miles.

For families and friends, I suspect time has not softened the loss. Survivors bear the scars, and the selfless rescuers still remember.

Boxtop 22 is an incredible story of tragedy, of perseverance, of hope, of celebration and of sorrow.

I can’t begin to express adequately what it was like to travel to Alert in June in the company of two of the survivors – Tony Cobden and Monty Montgomery. As well as Scott MacLean, the young 29-year-old commanding officer of Alert at the time – whose team banded together to attempt overland rescue expeditions, set up medical reception for the survivors and supported the rescue efforts – and Master Warrant Officer Ben House, a search and rescue tech who jumped into the crash site. One of the bravest of the brave.

It was an emotional event for all of us – it was for me.

I was a young captain on 435 Squadron at the time of the crash. The crew were my friends; I’d flown with them, played with them, and for a great number of days we had no idea what had happened.

Ironically, the wreckage of the aircraft still lies, twisted and broken, on the Arctic tundra. But it’s so well-preserved by the northern climate that you might think the crash had happened only a few months ago. And as we walked the ground from the top of the ridge down to where the tail sits, pieces of aircraft scattered around, we were amazed that anyone could have survived the crash, let alone the horrific hours that followed.

To be honest, I can’t really comprehend what those onboard Hercules number 130322, the rescuers, the team at Alert, their families must have gone through.

But I do know there were many heroes that day.

And I’d assess that the heroism demonstrated that day and in the days that followed has not – I think – been equalled in our peacetime Royal Canadian Air Force.

I salute all of them – all of you – for your will to survive, your heroism, and your determination to succeed. And I salute the families of those who perished, for your bravery in the face of tremendous loss.

For the Canadian public, although not – I suspect – for you, Boxtop 22 has faded from memory in the 25 years since the crash. That’s why it’s so important for us to place this cairn here in Trenton, the air mobility hub of the Canadian Armed Forces, and the place from where every Boxtop resupply mission now originates.

It will stay here as a permanent reminder of those terrible hours in Canada’s High Arctic. And I hope it will be an enduring reminder to Canadians of those who did not return, those who survived, and those who fought valiantly to bring the survivors home.

I hope it will be a place of memory and healing for you, and a way to ensure you or your loved ones will be forever remembered.