By Steve Cichon
steve@buffalostories.com
@stevebuffalo
Two Buffalo Marines are being remembered with a new monument in Gettysburg, PA– but it’s not what you might think.
On June 26, 1922, two Marines aboard the plane died when their plane crashed in Gettysburg.
This week, a new historical marker was unveiled not for from the spot… which is not far from the Civil War Battlefield.
The Pilot was Captain George Hamilton, a highly decorated World War I hero, grew up in Buffalo as the son of a correspondent for the old Buffalo Times newspaper.
Gunnery Sgt. George Martin also died in the crash. The 23 year old was a graduate of Buffalo School 37 and lived on Virginia Street in Buffalo.
The ultimate sacrifice of two Marines with Buffalo ties, being remembered 96 years later in Gettysburg, PA.
From The Gettysburg Times:
Marker to remember last battlefield line-of-duty deaths dedicated
Approximately 100 people gathered in Gettysburg Tuesday to honor the last men to die in the line of duty on the battlefield.
Those deaths occurred not in 1863, but on June 26, 1922, when a plane piloted by a World War I hero crashed near Steinwehr Avenue.
A new historical wayside marker now stands a block off Steinwehr at the intersection of Johns Street and Culp Avenue. It tells the story of U.S. Marine Corps Capt. George W. Hamilton and his passenger, Gunnery Sgt. George R. Martin.
