Service marks 12th anniversary of Guard disaster

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (AP) — The Virginia Air National Guard's 203rd RED HORSE Squadron will conduct a wreath-laying ceremony on the 12th anniversary of the worst peacetime aviation disaster in National Guard history.

The service honoring 18 Guard engineers and three Florida Army National Guard aviators who died in a military transport crash is set for Sunday afternoon at Camp Pendleton in Virginia Beach. The ceremony will be held at a meditation garden and memorial built to honor the fallen service members.

The engineers were returning home after completing a two-week construction project at Hurlburt Field, Fla., when the C-23 Sherpa crashed in a Georgia cotton field.

The disaster marked the worst loss of life in the Virginia National Guard since World War II.