In December 1985, Private William R. Brilya was serving in the U.S. Army’s 3d Battalion, 502d Infantry, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) unit.

On Thursday morning, 12 December 1985, PVT Brilya was aboard Arrow Air Flight 1285, a McDonnell Douglas DC-8 operating as an international charter flight carrying U.S. troops from Cairo, Egypt, to their home base in Fort Campbell, KY, with stops in Cologne, Germany and Gander, Newfoundland. The flight had been chartered by the Multinational Force and Observers (MFO) to transport troops, their personal effects, and some military equipment to and from a six-month tour of peacekeeping duties in the Sinai Desert. All but twelve were members of the 3d Battalion, 502d Infantry, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault); eleven were from other Forces Command units; and one was a CID agent from the Criminal Investigations Command.

Shortly after takeoff from Gander, enroute to Fort Campbell, the aircraft stalled, crashed, and burned about half a mile from the runway, killing all 256 passengers and crew on board. Perhaps no other event in its peacetime history has so wrenched the soul and torn at the heart of the U.S. Army as the Gander tragedy, which ranked as the worst military air disaster in our nation’s history.