Submitted Photo From left to right are Katie Elhardt, Alyssa Marquardt, Gary Nelson, Mark Elhardt, Gracie Mathern, Jody McLaughlin, Ralph Miller, Bev Keesey and Scott Nelson, community people who in June placed a memorial at the site between Raleigh and Flasher where Capt. William Richardson’s plane crashed nearly 60 years ago.

FLASHER — On Dec. 19, 1963, Air Force Capt. William “Bill” Richardson, a member of the 5th Fighter Interceptor Squadron at Minot Air Force Base, took off from the base in an F-106 “Delta Dart” to practice interceptions for an exercise.

About an hour later, radar lost contact with his plane. The plane had experienced serious problems. Richardson was unable to eject from the plane and crashed between Raleigh and Flasher, southwest of Bismarck.

Richardson, 33, died, leaving his wife, Joan, and two young daughters, Trish and Lataine.

His death, and the deaths of a number of other F-106 pilots, including from Minot AFB during that time, were attributed to a failure of the plane’s ejector seat so he was not able to parachute from the plane. After an investigation, the planes’ original ejector seats were replaced with new ones.

Now nearly 60 years later, a memorial has been placed at the crash site, thanks to a group of local people in the area of the crash site.

“It was a community project. The Carson and Flasher American Legion posts paid for it,” said Scott Nelson, a farmer/rancher/artist from Solen.

Nelson had a plaque made for the memorial and the Flasher School shop class made the pedestal, based on a design Nelson had in mind.

On Tuesday, June 13, nine volunteers gathered at the site of the crash and placed the memorial. Those taking part were: Katie Elhardt, Alyssa Marquardt, Gary Nelson, Mark Elhardt, Gracie Mathern, Jody McLaughlin, Ralph Miller, Bev Keesey and Nelson. Of the group, several are military veterans and three belong to the Flasher American Legion Post 69. Keesey’s late husband, Phil, was a military veteran.

Nelson said the memorial is “a lesson in history” for the students and their parents.

“None of the kids in the shop class had heard of the crash and their parents hadn’t heard of it either. All the older folks know about the crash but the young ones don’t. That’s why the memorial is so important so people remember what happened there even after us older folks are gone. It’s also important that we know the date, the pilot’s name and the type of plane,” said Nelson, who, as an artist, illustrates the story of military aviators on canvas.

Nelson said some of the people who had heard of the crash thought it was a B-52 or a World War II plane and that it happened in the 1940s.

Trish Healy, of Marietta, Georgia, the eldest daughter of Richardson, said, “It’s so hard to even put into words how touched I am by the efforts of those involved in creating, designing and funding this memorial for my dad. None of these people knew my dad or know my family, and yet, they feel compelled to keep his memory alive and honor the sacrifice he made so many years ago. This journey to know more about my dad has, at times, been so sad and emotionally draining, but it’s these ‘God winks’ as I like to call them, that let me know my dad is with me each and every day. He’s been holding my hand through this entire journey that’s going on nearly 20 years, and he’s led me to interact with some amazing people in and around Minot. I will be forever grateful and humbled by their actions.”

Another daughter of the Richardsons, Lataine Brown, and her husband, Cal, live in Canyon Lake, Texas.

When the plane crash occurred, Nelson said, his parents were among the first at the site. He has a small piece of the plane that his dad found before the crash site was cordoned off. He plans to give it to Trish Healy.