Historical society hosts ‘make a deal’ sale and marks historic anniversary
September 3, 2024 | By Waterbury Roundabout 
Duxbury Historical Society will host their annual lawn and bake sale Saturday, Sept. 7, at the Old Meeting House/South Duxbury Church. Photo by Gordon Miller
The Duxbury Historical Society has two important upcoming events on its September calendar: its annual Let’s Make a Deal lawn and bake sale is this Saturday, and later this month a special presentation marks the 80th anniversary of the 1944 B-24 bomber crash on Camel’s Hump.
The sale takes place from 8 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. on Saturday at the organization’s headquarters – the Old Meeting House/South Duxbury Church across from Harwood Union High School on Vermont Route 100.
A key fundraiser for the nonprofit group, the sale features an array of household items along with a bake sale with sweet and savory homemade items. The twist: None of the lawn sale prices are marked. Attendees are asked to name their prices for the items they choose, knowing that all of the proceeds support the group’s projects. (Food items are priced.)
Anhyone wishing to donate items for the sale may drop off at the meeting hall building across from Harwood from 4 to 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 4, and on Friday, Sept. 6. Items NOT accepted: Clothing, mattresses, cribs, helmets, large appliances, exercise equipment. Baked goods and food items for sale also may be dropped off at these times and on Saturday.
Organizers also ask that people on Saturday follow the schedule – no early birds, please.
Sept. 17: Presentation on the Camel’s Hump crash
On Sept. 17, the historical society invites the community to a special presentation by local historian Brian Lindner on “The Crash & Rescue of the B-24 Liberator Crew on Camel’s Hump.”
In October 2024, 10 crew members were aboard a B-24 Liberator, similar to this one, that was on a training mission when it crashed into Camel’s Hump, killing all but one of the men. Wikimedia Commons
The 80th anniversary of the fateful crash is Oct. 16. On that night in 1944, a U.S. Army B-24 Liberator bomber on a training flight took off from the U.S. Army Air Force base at Westover Field in Chicopee, Massachusetts. Veering off course, the aircraft collided with the west side of the summit of Camel’s Hump, killing nine of the 10 crew members aboard.
Since his boyhood in Waterbury, Lindner has been the leading researcher digging into the story and painstakingly piecing together details of the flight, the servicemen aboard, the search and rescue and eventual burials of the deceased, along the way befriending the lone survivor who lost both hands and feet to frostbite from the ordeal, but lived until 2000.
Lindner will recount the story in a talk at Crossett Brook Middle School starting at 7 p.m. Refreshments will be served. Free.
Read an account of Lindner’s extensive research on the Camel’s Hump crash by Mark Bushnell published by VTDigger in 2023 here.