FLIGHT 621: the LAST WINTER (2011) of the DIASPORA

HOMES SPROUTING UP all 'round the 621 Field…

You knew it had to happen one day. And that day swiftly approaches…and for better, or worse…development will steamroller its way through the hallowed 621 field in only a few months. Yes, in this forgotten field where 109 people, strangers to each other, died, together, in 1970.

But that impending development is for the better, folks.

The skeletal remains of these unfortunate victims can still be found in the field. But by spring…that will…no longer be the case. Thankfully.

The three acres of topsoil containing most of these human remains will be gathered up…and entombed in a FLIGHT 621 Cemetery that will be located right at the crash point.

Right where AIR CANADA'S DC-8's nose entered the ground.

I pause, as I have so often before…and snippets of the victims lives, the part of their lives that I have come to know about, race through my head. And I see the faces. Even in the bitter cold and the silence, there is time for that.

I share some thoughts with the Great God, who is always present. And I release my sadness back to Him.

Otherwise, it would be too much for me, for anybody, to bear.

For many of the Flight 621 families who lost cherished ones, it has been just that. Too much too bear.

So often in death, we get lucky…we have a warning. We have time to spend with an ailing family member, or, friend. Time to mend things, time to say those things that need to be said, we have time to say our good-byes…and to let go.

Gradually.

With so many of the surviving family members of Flight 621…it is a feeling of being cheated.

So, if you go to the Flight 621 Cemetery in Castlemore, when it officially opens in 2012, bear that in mind.

You may run into family members. This is their place.

Most will want privacy. Some may want to talk. There is no roadmap. All you can do is discern in that very moment what is the loving thing to do, or be.

And if you're Catholic, like I am…that's all your religion, and your God is asking you to do. Has been asking you, your whole life—

God, is not as far away, as you think.

And your neighbour is, almost as close…


(The visible post coincidentally is at the most eastern edge of the crash arena. The treeline takes you down to ground zero)

::.:. FLIGHT 621: 40th ANNIVERSARY - Two Boys, a Cat, and a Dog ::..

The Last Will and Testament of brothers Jacques and Jean Belanger

"IF WE DIE, WE GIVE…"

POUPONNE, MY CAT, I leave to Mionne Mallette.

Sports equipment to Daniel and Benoit Maillette. My typewriter to Evelyne Mallette, and my coin collection from Expo´67 to Jason Gagnon. Jacque's tape recorder to Norman Dupres. Handkerchief to Denis Perrault. Jean's Apollo XI rocket to Pierre Guertin…and so on…until all of his toys and possessions, and those of his younger brother, Jean (12), were given up to his friends and cousins.

Jacques (16) was mesmerized with the progress of aviation at the time.

The teenager knew about aviation, first hand, as his father was currently an Air Canada mechanic. So Jacques was really excited that he, indeed his whole family, would be flying on a brand new DC-8 "Stretch'…the very largest, and most advanced airliner at the time.

And yet, there was something wrong.

Did Jacques have a premonition?

Why did he think he might not return?

What did he feel?

Why did he insist on making a will, and giving it to his cousin, and best friend, Jean Mallette, just before boarding Air Canada Flight 621?

I'm sure Jacques' family made jokes about his insistence on creating a will for both him, and his brother. Their sister, Rosanne (10) did not create a will. I wonder what the Belanger family thought and said to one another…as they sat together on the ill-fated airplane, and events tragically unfolded. The knowing looks; the sad heads shaking.

Did his mother acknowledge, as mothers so often do when their own children amaze them, "Oh Jacques…you were right!"

These preceding paragraphs are only speculation but you can be sure some sort of exchange occurred.

On July 5th, 1970, at 8:10 am in the morning, Air Canada Flight 621 crashed in a farmer's field beside the West Humber, in Castlemore, Ontario nose first, left wing high…killing all 109 passengers and crew. A caged dog also perished.

And the whole Belanger family, all five of them, died together in Castlemore, 40 years ago.


Flight 621 In Memorium

Adams, Celine Fradette
Adams, Pierre J
Beaudin, Gaetan
Belanger, Mrs.
Belanger, Jacques
Belanger, Jean
Belanger, Roland
Belanger, Rosanne
Benson, Helen
Benson, Leonard
Benson, Mary
Benson, Richard
Bertrand, Ginette
Boosamra, Lynn
Boulanger, Guy
Bradshaw, Dollie
Cedilot, Robert J
Chapdeleine, Jeannine
Chapdeleine, Joanne
Chapdeleine, Mario
Charent, Jean Maurice
Clarke, Devona Olivia
Cote, Francine
Daoust, Yolande
Desmarais, Brigitte
Desmarais, G
Dicaire, Alice (Marie)
Dicaire, Gilles
Dicaire, Linda
Dicaire, Luke
Dicaire, Mark
Dion, Suzanne
Dore, Jacqueline
Earle, Lewella
Earle, Linda
Filippone, Francesco
Filippone, Linda
Filippone, Marie
Gee, Bernard
Goulet, Denise M
Grenier, Madeleine
Growse, Mrs.
Growse, Jane
Growse, Roger
Hamilton, Karen E
Hamilton, Peter Cameron
Herrmann, Ronald Alvin
Hill, Harry Gordon
Holiday, Claude
Houston, Irene Margaret
Houston, Wesley
Jakobsen, Vagn Aage
Labont, Gilles
Leclaire, Marie Rose
Leclaire, Oscar
Leduc, Henri W
Lepage, Claudette
Mailhiot, Claire Gagnon
Mailhiot, Gerald Bernard
Maitz, Gustave
Maitz, Karoline
McKettrick, Winnifred
McTague, John
Medizza, Carla
Mohammed, Dolly
Molino, Antonio
Molino, Michael (Michel)
Moore, Frederick T
Partridge, Andrea
Partridge, Carnie (Carnis) Ann
Partridge, Cyril Wayne
Phillips, Kenneth William
Poirier, Rita
Raymond, Gilles
Raymond, Martial
Robert, Aline
Robert, Georges E
Robidoux, Lionel
Rowland, Donald
Silverberg, Marci
Silverberg, Merle
Silverberg, Steven
Simon, Istvan
Simon, Mark
Smith, Dwight Lee
St. Laurent, Blanche
Stepping, Glenn Thomas
Sultan, Celia
Sultan, Jerald. M
Sultan, Robert. L
Szpakowicz, Borys
Szpakowicz, Serge
Tielens, Carmen
Tielens, Frederick
Tournovits, George
Tournovits, Soula (Athanasia)
Weinberg, Carla
Weinberg, S
Weinberg, Wendy
Whittingham, Jennifer
Whittingham, John
Whittingham, Reginald
Whybro, Mary Baker
Wieczorek, Hildegund
Witmer, Edgar
Wong, Ngar-Quon
Wong, Suzie
Wong, Wong (Mansing)
Woodward, Dallas J



© 1970 Mike Quatrale (OPP police photographer)
© Pierre Tremblay - Friends of Flight 621
© Paul Cardin - Friends of Flight 621