Sioux City History & Culture by Bicycle Part 5: Flight 232 Memorial

In 1989 Sioux City had a tragedy occur at the airport. The crash of United Flight 232. The plane lost it's primary hydraulic system & it's secondary back up. The aircraft was very hard to control. The flight crew was given a choice of either trying to land at Sioux City or try & make it to Minneapolis. They decided on Sioux City. What set this flight apart from most others is though people died in the crash, because of the flight crews heroics at keeping the plane under control until when that became impossible & nothing more could be done & it was left to GOD to decide, more people lived then died in the crash. Of course another thing that helped more people survive then die in the tragedy was the cooperation of those that helped on the ground after the plane crahsed. Several agency's responded. The Iowa Air National Guard, local, county & state emergency crews from across the area, not to mention both hospitals trauma centers.

The little boy shown being carried by the Iowa Air National Guardsman recently graduated college. I had the pleasure of meeting the Air National Guardsman once.

In 1994 the memorial was built & dedicated. It is next to the Anderson Dance Pavillion on the Sioux City Riverfront.

Though this was a tragedy I think it is important to honor those who helped save countless lives that fateful day & to remember those who GOD decided was their time to come home to him.

Sioux City History & Culture by Bicycle Part 4: Pacific Short Line Bridge & Veterans Memorial Bridge

Going from Sioux City into Nebraska used to be what was called the Pacific Short Line Bridge, otherwise known as the Combination Bridge it was replaced in 1981 by The Veterans Memorial Bridge.

The Combination Bridge had no safe way for anyone to walk or ride bike across. The Veterans Bridge has a pedestrian/bicycle path that connects to the trail system on both the Iowa & Nebraska side of the Missouri River.

The only part that is left of the old Combination Bridge is part of the large support piece shown in the photos. The Veterans Memorial Bridge is now one of only 2 ways to get across the river in Sioux City.

The remains of the Combination Bridge & the Veterans Memorial Bridge are located between the Flight 232 Memorial & the Lewis & Clark Interpretive Center.