Local Air Force Chaplain Doug Lumpkin looks over a pair of boots meticulously placed at the foot of the Blackhawk Memorial in Navarre Park. Those boots were worn by first responders as they scoured the shorelines of the sound following the crash last year recovering missing bodies and helicopter parts. (Photo by Mat Pellegrino | South Santa Rosa News)
Wandering through Navarre Park early last Friday morning, Air Force Chaplain Doug Lumpkin’s wandering eyes caught a glimpse of something familiar.
The Hurlburt Field stationed Air Force leader walked over to the familiar items and kneeled down to get a better look.
The well-known site was a pair of leather boots. But these weren’t just any boots.
“When they were marching up and down the shore here looking for body parts and pieces from the aircraft, they wore these boots,” he said.
Those boots were made for walking—up and down the shoreline during the recovery mission of the Blackhawk Helicopter crash that occurred last March. The crash claimed the lives of 11 servicemen.
Most of the recovery team from area bases had ordinary jobs. They had to stop what they were doing back on March 10, 2015 and rush out to the sound to take part in the recovery efforts, along with other local first responders. With them, they brought these pair of boots.
Glancing on the handwritten message on the back of the boots, Lumpkin said it was obvious these were put here for a reason.
“This is a memorial for those men and women. Many of them were working on the base and were called out here to do that. They had ordinary jobs and they had to strap these on and rush out here to help,” Lumpkin said staring at the message on the back of the boots.
The boots sat under the clay rendition of what will eventually become the Blackhawk Memorial in Navarre Park. Leadership Santa Rosa Class 29 erected the temporary fixture last Friday, which housed a plaque with 11 removable stars and an eagle, which sat atop it.
Each of the stars were given to a Gold Star family member who attended the Leadership Santa Rosa Class 29 ceremony Friday morning in Navarre Park. The class members also ordered shadow boxes for the families to take the miniature memorials home with them.
Randy New, the Pace High School art teacher selected to craft the memorial in Navarre Park said once it’s erected and revealed on Memorial Day, the site will have stars etched into the memorial itself.
“Those stars will have lights inside of them so they will continually shine,” New said. “We put this (temporary) memorial up so we can pay tribute to the family members that are here in Navarre. We wanted them to have a piece to take back with them.”
Lumpkin, who was one of dozens of men and women who were called out to aid in the recovery efforts said those boots that sat at the foot of the temporary memorial represented more than just recovery.
“It’s what they had to do,” he said. “They were out pulling the bodies (of the fallen) out of the water to bring them back home to their families.”
These boots were worn by a first responder who aided in the recovery efforts after the crash last year. They were placed at the foot of the memorial in Navarre Park. (Photo by Mat Pellegrino | South Santa Rosa News)
