On the occasion of the 80th anniversary of a tragic accident in which the American pilot Lt. James Kingsley and seven residents of the village of Sukhozem died, and the 20th anniversary of the construction and opening of a memorial by NPr. Ambassador James Pardue and at the invitation of the organizers Colonel Willis Tsurov – Chairman of the Union of Reserve Officers/SOR/Atlantic and Mayor Neicho Nedelchev, Colonel Cormac Doyle – President Rotary Club International Plovdiv and Hristo Gagov – member Rotary Club International Plovdiv participated in the event. Mr. Doyle was in the group of honored guests from NATO allies and with his high military awards, he stood next to the military attaché of the United States, Pol. Paul Seabolt, generals and colonels, district governors, mayors, etc.
Lt. Kingsley was posthumously awarded the highest military award, the Order of Congress, because of his selfless act – he gave his parachute to a wounded comrade with a burnt parachute and took over the piloting, while the crew is rescued. He died when trying to land the B-17 flying fortress, which was almost destroyed by anti-aircraft fire and the fighters pursuing it. In the fire caused by the impact on a tree, 7 young Bulgarians who hid under it also died. Eight of the rescued pilots awaited liberation together with about 400 English-speaking airmen in a concentration camp near the city of Shumen. The youngest of the crew joined the partisans, as an American soldier. A story worthy of being added to the others describing the 15th Air Force of the United States in the anti-war book”Paragraph22” by author Joseph Heller.