SENSE OF CONGRESS ON ESTABLISHMENT OF BAKERS CREEK MEMORIAL.

SEC. 2877. SENSE OF CONGRESS ON ESTABLISHMENT OF BAKERS CREEK MEMORIAL.(a) Findings.—Congress makes the following findings:(1) In 1943 and 1944, the United States Armed Forces operated a rest and relaxation facility in Mackay, Queensland, Australia, for troops serving in the Pacific Theater during World War II.(2) On June 14, 1943, a Boeing B–17C was transporting 6 crew members and 35 servicemen from Mackay to Port Moresby, New Guinea, to return the servicemen to duty after 10 days of rest and relaxation leave at an Army/Red Cross facility.(3) The aircraft crashed shortly after take-off at Bakers Creek, Australia, killing all 6 crew members and 34 of the 35 servicemen being transported in what was at that point the worst crash in American air transport history, and what remains the worst air disaster in Australian history.(4) Due to wartime censorship rules related to the movement of troops, the tragic crash and loss of life were not reported to the Australian or United States public.(5) Many family members of those killed did not learn the circumstances of the troops deaths until they were contacted by the Bakers Creek Memorial Foundation beginning in 1992.(6) As of May 2005, the Bakers Creek Memorial Foundation had contacted 36 of the 40 families that lost loved ones in the tragic crash, and was continuing efforts to locate the remaining four families to inform them of the true events of the crash at Bakers Creek.(7) The Australian people marked the tragic crash at Bakers Creek with a memorial established in 1992, but no similar memorial has been established in the United States.(b) Sense of Congress.—It is the sense of Congress that the Secretary of the Army may establish an appropriate marker, at a site to be chosen at the discretion of the Secretary, to commemorate the 40 members of the United States Armed Forces who lost their lives in the air crash at Bakers Creek, Australia, on June 14, 1943.119 STAT. 3537