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Mississippi adds road signs on Interstate 55 for Lynyrd Skynyrd plane crash site

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Mississippi adds road signs on Interstate 55 for Lynyrd Skynyrd plane crash site
A fan takes a photo of an etching of the late Lynyrd Skynyrd lead singer Ronnie Van Zant at the Lynyrd Skynyrd Monument, located near the site of the Oct. 20. 1977, plane crash that killed Van Zant and others in Gillsburg, Miss. The rock band now has highway signs pointing to the site of the crash. Fans gathered as exit signs were unveiled from Interstate 55 near McComb and state Highway 568. (Matt Williamson/The Enterprise-Journal via AP)

GILLSBURG, Miss. — Lynyrd Skynyrd, the rock band famous for “Sweet Home Alabama” and “Free Bird,” now has highway signs pointing to the site of the Mississippi plane crash that claimed the lives of some of its members.

Fans gathered Sunday as the Mississippi Department of Transportation unveiled exit signs from Interstate 55 near McComb and state Highway 568 near Gillsburg, the Enterprise-Journal reported.

The signs provide direction toward a monument commemorating the Oct. 20, 1977, plane crash that killed some members of the band. Three large granite markers were put up in Gillsburg in 2019, but until the exit signs were recently added, many people had to guess how to find the site in a wooded area near the Louisiana state line.

“People were always asking where the crash site is. It’s very difficult to get to and there are no markings,” said said Bobby McDaniel, president of the Lynyrd Skynyrd Monument Project.

The monument has become one of the biggest tourist attractions in southwest Mississippi, since drawing 4,500 people from 13 countries, 39 states and five Canadian provinces. And that was without directions leading to the remote site 8 miles (13 kilometers) west of Interstate 55 — in a place with no cellphone service for navigation.

Of the 26 people on the plane, 20 survived. Those killed were singer Ronnie Van Zant, guitarist Steve Gaines, his sister and backing vocalist Cassie Gaines, assistant road manager Dean Kilpatrick, pilot Walter McCreary and co-pilot William Gray.

Mississippi legislators passed a bill requiring the state to provide exit signs for the crash monument. Among those pushing for it was Republican Rep. Beckie Currie of Brookhaven, who was a student nurse at the time of the crash. She said local hospital employees worked through the night to help crash victims without knowing some of them were famous.

Currie said she has always been a fan of the band’s music: “I spent a lot of time in the summers … listening to Lynyrd Skynyrd and having way, way, way too much fun.”

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The Associated Press is an independent global news organization dedicated to factual reporting. Founded in 1846, AP today remains the most trusted source of fast, accurate, unbiased news in all formats and the essential provider of the technology and services vital to the news business. The Trucker Media Group is subscriber of The Associated Press has been granted the license to use this content on TheTrucker.com and The Trucker newspaper in accordance with its Content License Agreement with The Associated Press.
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5 Comments

Who cares? That’s a long time ago? Who was that anyways. Has nothing to do with history wasn’t a President or a Police officer. Nobody I would listen to anyways.

Get the hell out of Dodge, u have no moral support for rock an roll my friend. Taylor’s needs to go to school.forreal

Taylor, there are signs and monuments all over this great country marking the spots where significant things have happened regardless of whether they were political or not, and regardless of whether you approve or not.

What about signs guiding visitors to the crash site deaths of: Stevie Ray Vaughan, Buddy Holly and Jim Croce?

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