Tonopah Army Air Field Airmen’s Memorial Wall
tonopah, nv
Discription:
Curved, six-foot-tall wall containing an engraved brick representing the name, rank, and position of airmen killed (primarily in B-24 and P-39 training crashes) at and around the Tonopah Army Air Field while training during World War II. A 23- foot long, six-foot-tall wall with the name of every airman on an engraved brick. At the center are two bronze plaques containing an airmen’s poem and the emblem of the Fourth Air Force. Featured prominently in front of the wall is an engine recovered from a B-24 Liberator that crashed near Tonopah in 1944, in which six young airmen lost their lives. A local rancher donated a 2,000 pound, sand-filled practice bomb from the base that he discovered in the desert outside Tonopah and donated to the project.
Responcible Organization/Individual:
Tonopah resident Joni Eastley, as part of the Tonopah Main Street Program.
Designed By:
Vietnam War veteran Mick Neighbors, and Douglas “Stretch” Baker, both Tonopah residents.
Address:
Next to the Veterans of Foreign Wars Kenneth J. Booth Post 1103, 2665 S. Main Street, Tonopah, Nevada 89049.
GPS Coordinates:
Hours Available
Ceremonies: possibly
History:
While working at the annual Fourth of July Art Show and Sale in 2019 at the Belmont Courthouse, a trustee, who is also on the board of directors of the Tonopah Main Street Program, learned of a former airman and his wife who had lived in Tonopah, and made a note of it. That led to research about the couple, which led to a general curiosity about the others who served. It was then learned that over time 120 men died while serving at TAAF. The majority of the men died in air training crashes, but the town felt that every life given – no matter how it’s given – in service to one’s country should be honored. That led to a movement to erect a memorial.