Three Airmen Lost: The Nineteen Forty-Three Accident Memorial
Near Providence, Rhode Island
On August fifth, nineteen forty-three, three United States servicemen died in an aircraft accident on this very ground. Second Lieutenant Otis R. Portewig of Richmond, Virginia.
First Sergeant Herbert D. Booth of Rahway, New Jersey. And Second Lieutenant Saul Winsten of Pawtucket, Rhode Island, just miles from here.
They were likely on a training or ferry mission over New England, one of thousands flown from bases across the region during the war years. This marker, placed by people who refused to let three lives go unspoken. In the middle of World War Two, Rhode Island was ringed with military installations.
Quonset Point Naval Air Station was active nearby. Accidents happened quietly. This spot remembers the ones that did.
