Past brought to life to support library’s future
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POLSON — The community came together to support the North Lake County Public Library as they hosted a unique fundraiser to reach their goal of $2.2 million for the library’s renovation project.
On Saturday afternoon, a bit of the past flew into the Polson airport for the 75th anniversary of D-day. The event was unique since the public could climb into a bit of history - the Miss Montana historic DC-3 airplane flown in for the event.
The history of Miss Montana spans decades explained one of her pilots Art Dykstra. “They used it for smokejumpers and flying cargo for 30 years,” he said.
“This is the airplane that dropped the smokejumpers at Mann Gulch where they lost 13 jumpers when the flames overtook them,” added Bryan Douglass.
Copies of the book “Every reason to Fail: The Unlikely Story of Miss Montana and the D-Day Squadron,’’ written by Bryan Douglass, a fellow pilot of Miss Montana, were available to purchase at the event. The book recounts the journey Miss Montana took on her trip to France for the D-Day invasion.
Miss Montana pilots shared a variety of the plane’s facts with event goers while volunteers and employees from the library dressed up in old World War II uniforms to help bring the past to life.
