Seventy years after a bomb on United Flight 629 killed all 44 people on board, a granite memorial was dedicated at the site of the former Stapleton air traffic control tower, where the flight originated. The explosion occurred 11 minutes after takeoff, over a field in Weld County. Investigators later determined it was caused by 22 sticks of dynamite hidden in the luggage of a woman whose son had purchased a life insurance policy at the airport. The tragedy marked the first large-scale act of sabotage on a commercial airliner in the United States.
Speaking at a ceremony inside the FlyteCo Tower, Denver Mayor Mike Johnston said the memorial was long overdue but “what is important now is that we tell the stories of every one of those 44 lives.”
That was exactly what motivated Mike Hesse to plan, fundraise, and orchestrate both the memorial and a weekend of activities that brought more than 100 family members of the victims together on the November 1 anniversary. “Many people don’t know about this tragic event, or they just know the perpetrator’s name, but didn’t know the victims’ names. That didn’t seem right to me,” said Hesse, a self-described history buff.
At the ceremony, family members came forward to lay a single rose for each name engraved on the surface of the stone. Kate Edwards Mullen was there in honor of her grandparents who perished in the crash. She was just two years old when they died. They had been on their way to Hawaii to visit her family since her father was stationed at Pearl Harbor. “I didn’t think about it for much of my life. My parents didn’t speak about it. So, I was on the fence about coming,” said Edwards Mullen. “But being here has been transformative. I came with two cousins, and it just feels so right to have a memorial for them.”…