FORT CAMPBELL, Ky. -- A tearful President Reagan Monday told grieving families, friends and comrades of the 248 American soldiers killed in a plane crash last week that 'in life they were our heroes, in death our loved ones, our darlings.'
'The men and women we mourn today were peacemakers,' Reagan said.
The soldiers were coming home for Christmas after six months of peace-keeping duties in a multinational force in the Sinai when their Arrow Air DC-8 charter jet crashed on takeoff Thursday after a refueling stop in Gander, Newfoundland.
'We mourn with you,' Reagan told tearful family members at a memorial ceremony at the home of the 101st Army Airborne division, known as the 'Screaming Eagles.'
The brief ceremony in a drafty hangar began with the singing of 'Amazing Grace' and concluded with 'America the Beautiful.' Many in the audience sobbed throughout the ceremony.
The president and his wife, Nancy, talked to and tried to comfort almost 300 relatives and friends of the victims after the ceremony. Many cried and the Reagans embraced several. Mrs. Reagan brushed tears from her eyes. They seemed especially moved by two young children who apparently had lost their father in the crash.
'I'm sorry, I'm sorry,' Reagan said over and over, his brow heavy, his lips taught as he met the relatives of the worst airplane crash involving military personnel in peace or war. As he neared the end of the group of relatives, Reagan's eyes watered and he brushed away a tear.
About 280 members of immediate families and 315 soldiers of the 101st Airborne packed into Hangar 4 at Fort Campbell for the ceremony. The hangar was decorated with red, white and blue bunting, and plaques bearing the insignia of other army divisions.
Several children, fascinated by the pomp but uncertain of the circumstance, smiled and waved to neighbors. Mrs. Reagan bent down to hug the children and the president ruffled their hair and put his hand on their cheecks.
One small boy made a grab for Reagan's tie, and the president, smiling for the first time during the ceremony, playfully batted the hand away.
Over the platform where Reagan spoke hung a huge banner bearing an the head of a screaming eagle.
'You do not grieve alone,' Reagan told the families. 'We grieve as a nation, together, as together we say goodbye to those who died in the service of their country.'
'In life they were our heroes, in death our loved ones, our darlings.'
'We wonder: how could this be? How could it have happened, and why?' Reagan asked. 'We wonder at the stark tragedy of it all, of the enormity of the loss. For lost were not only the 248, but all of the talent, wisdom and idealism they had accumulated.'
'Who else but an idealist would choose to become a member of the armed forces and put himself in harms way, for us?' Reagan said.
'Who but an idealist would go to hard duty in one of the most troubled places in the world -- and go not as a matter of conquest but as a part of a force that existed to keep the peace.'
Reagan made special note of the coming Christmas holiday in his effort to console the stricken families.
'We cannot fully share the depths of your sadness -- but we pray that the special power of this season will make its way into your sad hearts and remind you of some old joys,' Reagan said.
Flags in the three small towns around Fort Campbell -- Hopkinsville, Ky., Oak Grove, Ky., and Clarksville, Tenn. -- flew at half staff. Although the base officially is located in Kentucky, more than half of it stretches across the border into Tennessee.
The order that created the 101st Airborne in 1942 said the division 'has no history but it has a rendezvous with destiny.' During World War II the division first gained fame for leading the way in the night drop prior to the June, 1944 D-Day invasion. Since 1981, the division has been part of the Multinational forces and observers in the Middle East.
Reagan told the families: 'They were proud. They had a rendezvous with destiny and a potential they never failed to meet.'
