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Osborne tries to reconstruct memorial to WWII-era plane crash

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By Samantha Anderson

KWCH 12 Eyewitness News

6:08 PM CST, December 11, 2012

(OSBORNE, Kan.)

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In the early 1940's, a U.S. military bomber was traveling from California to Topeka when it lost its way in an overnight storm. The pilot flew into a hill near Osborne, killing 11 servicemen.

Now almost 70 years later the memorial constructed in the mens' honor has been destroyed.

"The monument looked like someone had just backed into it," Laure McClure of the Osborne Carnagie Research Library said.

The monument was constructed in the early 2000's when historian Von Rothenberger learned about the crash.

"We decided we had to do something about that because nothing had ever been done to honor the facct that these men died," Rothenberger said.

Now there is an investigation into who or what destroyed that same memorial.

"Why in the world would they," Rothenberger said. "It had been here for eight years, no problem."

McClure said that it will cost around $1,400 to repair the memorial, but she thinks she will get support from the community.

"They still have respect for those who fought and those who came home and those who died," McClure said.

McClure hopes that soon the memorial will be whole again, sitting at the edge of the hill where 11 soldiers died.

If you would like to donate, you can email the Osborne County Genealogical and Historical Society at carnegie@ruraltel.net or calling (785) 346-9437.

Osborne tries to reconstruct memorial.