Monument remembers plane crash victims

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By CRISTINA RODRIGUEZ

updated 3:52 p.m. ET June 2, 2004

One day, Barbara and Joe Heard's 4-year-old daughter will revisit a monument to the victims of the 1999 American Airlines Flight 1420 crash.

Rachel Heard will see the bronze plaque with the image of the girl she's named after, 14-year-old Rachel Fuller, the youngest of 11 to die in the incident.

Barbara Heard was among the survivors who gathered in Little Rock Tuesday for the dedication of a memorial outside the Aerospace Education Center.

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More than 80 people were injured among the 145 people aboard the jetliner that landed in a thunderstorm and crashed off the runway.

The outdoor monument was built across from the Little Rock National Airport. It's made of three curved concrete walls, each containing bronze plaques with the faces and names of the dead. The walls face a concrete box with more plaques telling what happened after the Dallas-originated jetliner crashed in the storm.

"This monument is not just to remember what we've lost, but to celebrate what we have," said survivor Charlie Fuller, Rachel's father.

At the dedication, Barbara Heard led survivors in singing "Amazing Grace," just as she did five years ago as she and other survivors were cold and shivering on an island in the Arkansas River, watching flames consume the plane.

Survivor Sharon Angleman Goodson, who said she curled up into Heard's arms like a child that night, credited Heard with helping her get through it.

"She kept me busy trying to focus on her voice," Goodson said. "She started singing 'Amazing Grace' and the rest of the group joined in, but I couldn't. Feeling the power and vibration of her voice was more powerful than any singing."

Some relatives, such as Steve Couch of Russellville, took pictures next to the images of their deceased loved ones. Couch's mother Mary, 68, died from multiple injuries received in the crash.

"I think she would've liked this," he said. "It's a befitting memorial to those who lost their lives and also to the survivors. It was a big ordeal they had to go through, too."

Those at the dedication wore name tags with red ribbons that identified them as survivors or family members and also listed their seat numbers or the seat numbers of their relatives.

The group met at the 1-year anniversary and decided to build a permanent monument to the tragedy.

"Four years ago we were still numb with the nearness of the tragedy, the newness of lives changed forever," he said.

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