HUNTINGTON, W.Va. — Family and friends will gather on the campus of Marshall University Thursday to remember the 75 people who died in the 1970 Marshall University plane crash.
Marshall’s Student Government Association will be conducting a memorial service at the Memorial Student Center plaza beginning at noon.
On the night of Saturday, Nov. 14, 1970, a DC-9 jetliner carrying Marshall football players, coaches, staff and supporters, along with the crew of five, clipped the treetops just short of Tri-State Airport and went down, killing everyone on-board.
The plane was returning Marshall home from its football game at East Carolina University in Greenville, N.C.
Huntington attorney John Proctor, whose parents, H.D. “Pete” Proctor and Courtney Josephine Proctor, died in the crash, is this year’s featured speaker in the annual memorial service honoring all who died in the tragedy. John Proctor was 5-years-old at the time of the crash.
In addition to Proctor, Marshall Student Body President E. J. Hassan, Governor Earl Ray Tomblin, Marshall President Dr. Stephen J. Kopp and Marshall Athletic Director Mike Hamrick are among those invited to speak during the memorial service.
The service will conclude with the placing of the memorial wreath at the Memorial Fountain. The fountain will be silenced after the laying of the wreath, and remain silent until next spring.
The service will be streamed live at www.marshall.edu/it/livestream for those who are unable to attend.
At 6:30 p.m., the SGA will conduct the first Memorial Service Site Visit which will be a bus ride to the crash site near Tri-State Airport. The public is invited to attend all the events.