quiet heroes

last week i was playing ingress in dorset park and while i was at the portal by the veterans' memorial, i took a few minutes to read every name on it. some were men i knew, or fathers or brothers or husbands of people i knew. one was the doctor who prescribed my first pair of glasses. i did not know that he was a combat veteran.

this one very quiet brick got my attention, though.

there's an understated monument behind williston town hall that tells very little more:

on March 4 1965, two Vermont

ANG aviators lost their lives

when their F-89 Scorpion crashed

in a field at Tafts corners

these benches are dedicated to

the memory of

Col. Robert P. Goyette

Lt. Jeffrey D. Pollock

both of Burlington, Vermont

what it doesn't say here is that they lost full control of the plane because of an engine fire and rather than eject to safety the men chose to fly the plane directly into the ground in order to keep the plane from crashing into nearby homes.