ShareThisChester Kanach grew too frail to carry the American flag.
He was once strong enough to serve in World War II with the U.S. Army's 317th Troop Carrier Group. Called the "Jungle Skippers," they were known for their prowess in transporting troops and supplies, and evacuating the wounded in Papua New Guinea and the Pacific Islands.
Last year, just shy of 90, Kanach, of Pottstown, Penn., was an honorary flag bearer at anniversary ceremonies for a wartime crash that killed 40 U.S. servicemen near Bakers Creek in Australia in 1943. The plane and crew were from the 317th.
But Kanach died May 1 -- less than two weeks before Army Secretary Pete Geren did what Kanach and the families of his fallen comrades had long hoped for: Officially approve the placement of a Bakers Creek crash monument at Fort Myer, Va.
The dedication is scheduled for June 11.
"He would have loved to see the final placement of the Bakers Creek monument," said Stephen Kanach, grandson of Chester Kanach, who lived most of his life in the Pottsdown, Pa. area. "And I want to see the final placement of the stone for him because if he were still alive, we both would be there."
The grandson enjoyed hearing about his grandfather's memories of World War II and used to drive him to events such as the Bakers Creek crash anniversary ceremonies.
The B-17C, converted for troop transport, was flying the men on a journey back to the front in Papua New Guinea when it went down just after takeoff June 14, 1943. The cause of the crash is unknown.
One soldier, the late Foye Kenneth Roberts of Wichita Falls, Texas got up and walked away. The military released little information about how the men died because of wartime censorship.
Over the years, volunteer researchers tracked down all but one man's family to tell them more about the troops' deaths.
Since 2006, a marker to the tragedy has sat at the Embassy of Australia in Washington, D.C., on a plot of land considered foreign soil. The push to honor the servicemen with a U.S. marker dates back to 2003.
After false starts, a U.S. Supreme Court case and the waning of a presidential administration, the monument remained just a signature away from a new home at historic Fort Myer, Va.
"Of course, I'm delighted, and I'm relieved, quite relieved. A lot of us are," Robert Cutler, executive director of the U.S. branch of the Bakers Creek Memorial Association, said.
Cutler's father closed the hatch on the doomed plane as the officer of the day. Cutler read about the crash in his father's diary.
Cutler had long negotiated with the Army to find a permanent home for the marker. The military declined the first choice, at Arlington National Cemetery, citing space issues.
Just when the Army was on the verge of announcing recommendations for the marker's location last year, a Supreme Court case brought things to a halt.
Department of Defense officials wondered if the military might have to accept donated monuments from all comers, depending how the court ruled on an unrelated but potentially applicable case.
In February, justices decided the city of Pleasant Grove, Utah, did not have to accept spiritual group Summum's donated monument for a city park. That decision cleared the way for the Army to act, without concern that they would henceforth have no choice but to accept similar monuments.
Army secretary Geren's signature is helping write the final chapter for the families of 41 young American servicemen who were far from home when tragedy struck.
Still, Cutler fended off congratulations Thursday.
"Only congratulate me, please, when we see it done," he said. "The marker's still where it was. Until it's moved, it hasn't happened yet."
E-mail Washington regional correspondent Trish Choate at choatet(at)shns.com.
(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, http://www.scrippsnews.com)
