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| Memorial for the Swissair Flight 111 near Peggy's Cove, Nova Scotia |
Often when traveling, the adventurer will come across a locale they were not expecting, which makes journeying here and there so much more enlightening.
But that journeying can also conjure up feelings of sadness when tragedy is suddenly remembered as though it were yesterday.
For those of us old enough, it is like knowing where you were when President John F. Kennedy was assassinated, or where you were when the first hint that 9/11 was more than just one airplane crashing into the North Trade Tower at the World Trade Center.
There are just those moments in life, no matter how many days pass, a specific memory is seared into the subconscious for all time.
And that is what Laureen, my lovely wife, and I found while driving southwest toward Peggy’s Cove, less than an hour's drive from Halifax in Nova Scotia.
It was one of those perfect mornings where the sun was shining, birds were singing, the ocean water could not be bluer and a Sasquatch was playing an acoustic guitar while a moose was singing wonderful melodies of life in the forest.
Driving along the coastline passing tiny towns with names such as Glen Haven, Seabright, Glen Margaret, and others seemed to be flipping through wall calendar pages in real time.
Fishing villages dotted the blue Atlantic waters with lobster traps lining the shores. Colorful homes, small and large either hugging the rocky beaches or laid back amongst long stretches of green grass with pristine forests as their backgrounds.
I used the phrase, “This is such beautiful scenery,” so often that it even began sounding redundant.
We stopped and snapped a few photos at French Village, a quaint way station for boats moving in and out of the large bay on their way to or from fishing. A large boatyard piqued our interest and time was spent walking along the docks and gazing at the massive boats laid up onto wooden inland docks awaiting their turn for repairs.
The entire drive was idyllic.
Closing in on Peggy’s Cove, which we had chosen as the destination for this day’s outing to view the iconic lighthouse and have a light lunch, we drove by a sign stating that a memorial for Swissair Flight 111 was at the next turnout.
And that is when those certain memories which may hide in the wrinkles of the brain, leap out.
“I didn’t know,” Laureen said.
My reply was to brake slowly and enter the parking lot reserved for visitors who want to stop and walk a short trail to wonderful artwork that recalled a horrific accident that claimed 229 fellow humans only a short five miles out in the cold Atlantic Ocean.
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| Laureen Beyer looking out towards where Swissair Flight 111 crashed into the ocean |
On a warm evening on the 2nd of September of 1998, Swissair Flight 111 was scheduled for a routine flight from JFK International Airport in New York City to its destination of Cointrin Airport in Geneva, Switzerland. The plane taxied the runway and took to the skies at approximately 8:17 PM.
The 215 passengers may have believed they were heading off for a fantastic and well-deserved vacation or perhaps to nail a business deal that had been in the works for months. The crew settled down to their specific duties knowing that tomorrow would bring another flight and another destination.
For these folks of Swissair Flight 111, tomorrow would never dawn.
A little over two hours later, the flight disappeared from the radar screens at a height of 9,700 feet above the Atlantic.
Five minutes later, the Bedford Institute of Oceanography in Halifax registered a seismic event about five nautical miles southwest of Peggy’s Cove.
The aircraft had nose-dived at 345 miles per hour into the ocean.
Half a dozen vehicles were already parked as we came to a stop.
The breeze blowing off the waters of the Atlantic was cool, we donned light jackets and wandered to the trail toward the memorial.
It is a lovely path, with signposts advising visitors to stay on the trail and not wander onto the national preserve area.
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| The stunning coastline looking toward Peggy's Cove, Nova Scotia |
The rocky coastline is home to a variety of indigenous plants - the Crowberry, the Three-Toothed Cinquefoil, and Laureen’s favorite, the Pitcher-plant (a carnivorous species that traps insects within their flowers and then digests them).
The green moss clung to the huge rocks that lined the coast like toupes upon bald men trying not to look like bald men.
It is also a place where the only sound is the breeze blowing through the air and the waves crashing along the nearby beaches.
A perfect location for a memorial for those lost out at sea.
Swissair Flight 111 was the deadliest accident for Swissair involving the McDonnell Douglas MD-11 and the second-deadliest accident to occur over Canadian airspace after the Arrow Air Flight 1285R. That air tragedy occurred on December 12, 1985, in Newfoundland which took the lives of all 256 aboard - only a half mile from the runway.
As we passed folks heading back from the memorial we nodded and smiled. They did the same but all were somber, as it should be when visiting such sites.
Though we may not know a soul who perished aboard Swissair Flight 111, they were all souls like ourselves. So, in a manner of speaking - we are very much like those who plunged into the ocean a short distance off the coast. Just regular people out traveling and not expecting the unexpected.
Huge pieces of natural granite stand at an angle at the memorial site. Strong and resilient against the constant barrage of winds and storms that batter this coastline. There are stone benches for visitors to sit and take a moment of reflection - either for those lost or perhaps themselves.
Words are etched into those pieces of granite thanking all those who assisted in the rescue and recovery efforts after the crash.
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| Large memorial located in Bayswater, Nova Scotia |
But there are other tributes left by loved ones of those killed, and one said it all - ‘No longer by my side, but always in my heart.’
I had to turn away and wipe a tear from my right eye - the breeze must have picked up some sand from the beach and flung it at me.
The memorial will last longer than the lives lost on that flight and even those who will remember the last words spoken before that fateful flight.
The airliner crashed almost equidistant from Peggy’s Cove and Bayswater, another small town across St. Margarets Bay from Peggy’s Cove where there is another memorial for those lost,
After an hour we ventured back to our vehicle and made our way to Peggy’s Cove.
We were both rather quiet with our own thoughts but driving away from the cove, I looked over at Laureen and said, “Where now?”
“Well, I think we need to visit Bayswater.”
And the following morning we did.
The drive to Bayswater from Halifax is short. A beautiful hour filled with green forests that seem to be endless. And then there is the ocean.
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| Some of the gorgeous coastline while driving to Bayswater, Nova Scotia |
Bayswater has a long curving sandy beach where the soft Atlantic waves curl up harmlessly while swimmers dunk in and out of the cold water.
We were the only visitors to the memorial that morning. It was quiet. It was solemn. As it should be.
Walking up the short path to the large sculpted granite monuments, we were instantly moved. One had every person’s name who had perished aboard Swissair Flight 111 etched into the granite and the other had a very touching eulogy.
‘In memory of the 229 men, women, and children aboard Swissair Flight 111 who perished off these shores September 2nd, 1998. They have been joined to the sea and the sky. May they rest in peace.’
A few steps away is the mass grave holding tightly those unidentified remains of the victims, surrounded by pillars of granite and overlooking the Atlantic Ocean.
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| Mass gravesite for many victims from the Swissair Flight 111 |
Suddenly, I felt another speck of sand entering my right eye and had to wipe the tear away.
John can be contacted at: beyersbyways@gmail.com
