Bloomington, Illinois: Poppy Plane Crash Memorial
On a 1948 Memorial Day flyover to drop poppies, a 2-seater plane crashed into this cemetery tree and burst into flames. In 2015 the dying tree was carved into a plane crash sculpture.
Evergreen Cemetery
- Address:
- 302 E. Miller St., Bloomington, IL
- Directions:
- Enter the cemetery at 302 E. Miller St., go right. The plane tree is about 100 yards ahead.
- RA Rates:
- Worth a Detour
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Visited the cemetery and the Poppy Plane Crash Memorial in November 2019. The historical marker stands near the carving made from the tree the plane hit.
[Katz Paganstar, 11/18/2019]
In Bloomington's Evergreen cemetery there is a memorial carved out of a tree that was involved in a fatal plane crash.
The story: in 1948 a WWII trainer plane, a Vultee BT -13 Valiant, was flying low over the cemetery dropping poppy flowers on a crowd to commemorate Memorial Day when it struck a tree. A passenger was killed. When the tree recently started dying the memorial was commissioned.
When you enter the cemetery at 302 E. Miller St. take a right. The plane tree is about 100 yards ahead.
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