'A town in mourning and disbelief'

My 12 year old mind was trying to grasp what my mother had just told my nephew and me. With tears in her eyes she said there had been a plane crash over the hill on route 75, just a mile or so from the runway. She said it was Marshall's football team. I remember the raw emotion that I felt as a pre-teen. What I remember most is the hurt in my mother's eyes, and as the days passed, a town in mourning and disbelief. The tragedy we all faced that night 35 years ago will never leave our hearts and minds. What it has done is to bring a town together in a marvelous way. WE ARE MARSHALL, and will always be.
-Jimmy Bloss

Movie is long overdue

This movie is long overdue!! Sounds like they are doing it right. My wife and I remember that tragic day as vividly as 9/11.

Jim Wade
Mashall Class of 1967

'We grew up fast'

I was a freshman at Marshall on Nov. 14,1970.My husband was a senior.We had just started dating. I will never forget the crash like many others who were on campus but it was especially memorable for me because my husband's best friend was one of the players. His best friend was Marcello Lajterman. We had also just been lavaliered the night before. It was a shocking night for everyone but I had a new boyfriend going through a difficult time and I was only 18 years old! We grew up fast that weekend.

-Beverly Marple DiMenna

In January 2006, with all of the excitement surrounding the upcoming “We Are Marshall” movie about the 1970 Marshall plane crash, we at The Herald-Dispatch decided to build a Web site and open our archives for the world to learn about the real story.

“The 1970 Marshall Plane Crash: The Real Story” offers historical stories, video and more. You can read about the rise of Marshall football and learn about the institution of Marshall University. You can also read stories about the Young Thundering Herd.

The story of Nov. 14, 1970, is one that will never be forgotten, especially in Huntington, W.Va.

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Thanks for reading,
Andrea Copley-Smith
online editor