<div id="subtitle">Virginia memorial to honor 40 soldiers killed in Australia in WWII crash long kept secret</div><div><p>A beach vacation in the midst of World War II turned tragic for 40 U.S. soldiers, and the circumstances of their deaths in a plane crash in Australia was long kept a military secret.</p><p>On Thursday, 66 years later, they were honored and their sacrifice commemorated with a monument at Selfridge Gate in the shadow of Arlington National Cemetery.</p><p>The ceremony brings "long awaited closure for one of the second World War's final open chapters," said Army Secretary Pete Geren, as family members and veterans with a gold sunflower pinned to their chests listened quietly.</p><p>The crash on June 14, 1943, at Bakers Creek near Mackay in Queensland, Australia, was the deadliest in Australian history and the worst single plane crash in the Southwest Pacific in World War II, officials said. The transport plane crashed en route to New Guinea, as it was shuttling back troops who had taken leave on the beaches in Australia.</p><p>The circumstances were kept classified for 15 years because of "demands of operational security," Geren said.</p><p>The dedication was a culmination of years of work for a group of volunteers called the Bakers Creek Memorial Association who spent years tracking down the relatives to tell them what happened. They then raised money for the memorial and lobbied for a place to put it.</p><p>Del Sparrowe, 87, of Sonoma, Calif., was an Army mechanic who served on the flight crew. He said the rest and relaxation in Australia was a welcome break for the troops, who enjoyed activities planned by female Red Cross workers and a bar open one hour at lunch time and one hour in the evening.</p><p>The day before the plane crashed, Sparrowe said he flipped a coin with his buddy to determine who would be on next plane out. The next morning, he said he knew something was wrong by the way workers at the hotel were acting.</p><p>"We thought it was funny that the waitresses were all very quiet," Sparrowe recalled in an interview before the ceremony. "Then we found out the plane had crashed."</p><p>Two days later, he said he went to the crash site.</p><p>"Then it really hit home," Sparrowe said. "It's something that you don't believe could possibly happen until you see the results of it."</p><p>"I got lucky, that's all," he added.</p><p>The memorial, finished in 2006, was housed at the Australian Embassy in Washington until a permanent home was found. It was carved from Queensland pink granite donated by the citizens of Queensland and the Australian government.</p><p>Six of the victims were from Pennsylvania, the others hailed from 22 other states.</p><p>Wilma Post, 68, Buckhannon, W.Va., said her mother died not knowing the circumstances of the death of her brother, Cpl. Edward Tenney. Post said she only learned of it when she was contacted by a volunteer from the association, and she's since gotten to know her late uncle by reading the letters he wrote home.</p><p>The telegram just said Tenney was "killed in an airplane. Period. They didn't know where. They didn't know anything," Post said.</p><img src="http://admatch-syndication.mochila.com/images/ad.gif?aid=52447606&bid=informcom" /></div><div id="copyright"><div>

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