The first stage of this multi-cache is in a nice little park that time has almost forgotten. It is also not far from the location of a terrible tragedy that happened right here in our own backyard.
One of the world’s worst air disasters up until the time of this crash, occurred at this airport a few thousand feet from the location of this cache. It involved veterans who were stationed stateside and veterans returning home from the Korean War and Far East Command. At that time, the Air Force had a program called "Operation Sleigh Ride," which brought servicemen home for Christmas. The lucky passengers' names were drawn by lot number. This particular flight was scheduled for Texas and points east. The accident took place at 6:27 a.m. on a cold Moses Lake morning in 1952. There were 115 men on board the plane. 87 died when the plane crashed only seconds after takeoff.
The plane involved in the accident was a C-124A Globemaster, made by the Douglas Corporation. These giant planes were big enough to carry 200 fully armed troops. The C-124A was a two-deck plane with four 3,500 horsepower engines. Passengers entered the plane through a nose ramp.
So there you have a little bit of our local history. We hope you enjoy this little park and the new memorial built to honor these sevicemen. There are picnic tables nearby and plenty of shade for geocachers wanting to take a break.
The cache is not located at the posted coordinates. Geocachers will find the clues necessary to find the final cache location at the posted coordinates.
You are looking for a special brick, the brick won't be hard to find using the hint. On the brick you will find a row of numbers in this order:
C:BC AM DE/FG/HIJK LM
Final Location:
47 North 1H.GEF
119 West 19.[K+2]GD
Replace the letters with the numbers from the brick to derive coordinates for the cache final.
The building where the cache final is located was originally the base chapel. In the days following the crash, the chapel served as a gathering place for volunteers and family members of crash victims.
Don't be shy! even though the cache is very close to an office window. The people inside know about the cache and have given permission for cache placement. Please replace the cache exactly as found. Geocaching stealth mode may be necessary if non-geocachers are nearby.
**The inspiration to make a memorial for this tragic accident came about when two friends were out geocaching. KC7MEL and lightmann were headed back home after a day of geocaching when all of a sudden a deer jumped in front of lightmann's truck. We had a long wait for the tow truck to arrive. During that time we started talking about this airplane crash, we looked at each other and said -- someone needs to make a memorial for these guys. That is what started a lot of hard work and a community project to erect this memorial. A very big thank you to Moses Lake Lions Club, Columbia Basin Job Corps, Forgotten Heroes memorial committee and all the volunteers who helped make this memorial possible.
For us, Geocaching is not just a game, it gets you out and involved with the community. Cheers!
****For more information about the crash at Larson Air Force Base take a look at the Korean War Educator web page here.
