They thought the Helena Memorial only held pieces of the airplane, until they moved it — and a sealed letter popped out

For years, the Helena Memorial was believed to contain only pieces from a 1968 plane crash, with nothing else hidden inside. The memorial was built in 1970 by Frank "Buck" Cox after a tragic February 17, 1968, plane crash claimed the lives of Helena Mayor Dick Davidson, councilman John L. Bearden, and local businessman Stanley Lacey while they were returning from a municipal meeting in Montgomery. The sudden crash deeply shook the small Alabama town and led residents to preserve parts of the wreckage as a permanent tribute to the three men. Recently, however, officials discovered something nobody knew existed — a sealed, unopened letter inside, as reported by ABC 33/40 News.

They missed one important instruction

The memorial stood untouched until April 15, when officials began moving it to the new City Hall and found a box. Nobody knew where the key to open the box was. Chris Miller, the Fire Chief of Helena, was the first to notice the locked drawer and found it strange. "I wanted to know why. Why was it locked? If it was locked, something was inside of it, so I unlocked it and found the letter," he recalled. The letter was written the same year the memorial was built and contained a formal resolution from the town, along with instructions that the drawer should be opened in 2022 in the presence of the Cox family. 

However, the letter was opened four years late. Ken Penhale, a Helena historian, added, "It should have been open in 2022, but no one seemed to know where the key was at, so it was just neglected to be done." The letter also stated that it should be kept in the City Hall in the future, even if the townspeople change buildings.

The letter is a part of Helena's history

Even though the people of Helena were a few years late in opening the letter, they still honored it. The current mayor of Helena, Billy Rosener, spoke to the news outlet, "While we missed the original date of January ’22, the timing was when it needed to happen when we moved into this building.” It was read in public during the first council meeting in the new City Hall, and family members of the crash victims were present. The letter reads, "Be it resolved by the council of the town of Helena, in loving memory of three outstanding citizens who lost their lives in a plane crash on February 17, 1968."

The news agency also spoke to the family members of the victims. Elwyn Bearden, the son of John L. Bearden, said, "It has an impact on your life, and you carry it the rest of your life." Joe Davidson lost his father, Mayor Dick Davidson, when he was just 9 years old. He expressed, "You’re a child, you lose your father, you go through life without that. I had known what was in the box, but I didn’t know that there was a letter." 

Aviation accidents still a major concern

A report shared by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) analyzed flight activities and accidents between 1983 and 2017. Reports revealed that in 2000, there were 56 accidents. It was the year with the highest number of flight accidents. Between 1983 and 2000, there were a total of 569 flight accidents. Out of these, 71 were fatal accidents (12.5%). Between 2001 and 2017, there were slightly fewer accidents, 564, and the number of fatal accidents drastically dropped to 23 (4.1%). Even after two decades since the Helena Memorial victims, aviation accidents have remained a major concern over the years. 

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