The permanent memorial marker at the crash site honors Flight 255’s dead. Families of the 156 dead people who died in the crash of Flight 255 have erected a permanent memorial for their loved ones at the site.

The 5-ton, four-piece marker containing the names of the dead was unveiled at 7:00 PM on August 16, the 7th Anniversary of the crash, on a hill at I-94 and Middle Belt Road.

On the 7th Anniversary, Betty Polec of Clinton Township, whose pregnant daughter and son-in-law were killed in the crash at Detroit Metropolitan Airport, “It's been a very hard 7 years. This will bring a new meaning to the crash. We only wish it would have been sooner.”

The 3-section 14-foot long black granite monument was erected the week before the 7th Anniversary by crews from Black Monument, The Grand Rapids based company, which also designed the memorial.

Flight 255 family members raised the money to pay for the monument. While they would not give an exact cost, a spokesman for Black Monument said it was “more than $10,000 and less than $20,000.”

The 6-foot tall centerpiece is flanked by two 54-inch side sections and encircled with newly planted pine trees. The design is a compromise between the 10-foot tall marker the families wanted and the flat monument that the state suggested, Polec said. On the back of the monument is a poem written by Duane Adams of Royal Oak titled, “Final Flight”.

“It is really beautiful” said Kay Gleason of Shelby Township, who lost her husband, Pat, in the crash. “It has been a long time coming”.

Some of the Flight 255 Family members, including Polec and Gleason, are convinced that it took so long to get the marker because the county, state and Romulus didn't want a memorial at the site.

We accomplished our goal, Polec said. “We wanted a marker on that crash site. It's really an end of an era. It's like, My God, we finally did this.

Excerpts taken from The Detroit News article.