DENVER – It’s was right around 7 p.m. on November 1, 1955 when passengers of United Flight 629 settled into the DC-6 for the the trip from Denver’s Stapleton Airport to Portland.
Some were headed to see family, others, including crew members, weren’t supposed to be on that flight.One thing they all had in common: They all left behind shattered families, many of whom were so devastated, they couldn’t talk about the horrific crime.
It didn’t take long to piece together the horrible motive. A Denver man, in an effort to collect life insurance money from killing his own mother, decided to hide 25 sticks of dynamite into her suitcase and bring the whole plane down not caring at all about the 43 other victims.
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Wreckage of Flight 629
Justice was swift and John Gilbert Graham was executed months after the attack.
Colorado, no stranger to tragedies, has never had any permanent marker or memorial to honor the victims.But that changed on Saturday, which was the 70th November 1st since the bombing.
Charles Gorry/AP
This is an aerial view of the scene of last nights United Air Lines crash showing holes where plane’s engines struck and portions of the superstructure in foreground, in Longmont, Colo., Nov. 2, 1955. Ambulances and official automobiles are parked at right. (AP Photo/Charles Gorry)
The Denver Police Museum has for many months been working to contact families of United Flight 629 in an effort to bring as many as they could to a special weekend of remembrance.
And on Saturday, following a gathering inside FlyteCo Tower in which relatives of the victims and local former and current leaders shared stories and remembrances, a permanent marker was finally dedicated to the tragedy.
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Outside FlyteCo, at the base of the old Stapleton control tower, sits a bench dedicated to the victims, first responders and law enforcement.
On Saturday, a family member or representative of one of the 44 lives lost, each placed a single red rose on the bench in a ceremony that included a bell toll and a DC-3 flyover.
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Friday included a service at Denver’s Church in the City in which pastor Simon Obert delivered an uplifting message to families the hopes some might find healing after all these decades.
In the video player at the top of this story, watch moments from Saturday’s ceremony.
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As this weekend’s events come to an end and families return home, the push to honor their loss and the sacrifices Weld County residents made 70 years ago is not over.
A tight-knit group of determined Coloradans is working to bring to reality a permanent memorial in Weld County where the tragedy unfolded.
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The United Flight 629 Memorial Committee has been encouraging Coloradans to learn about what happened and to help support the construction of a permanent place for families and the community to reflect and heal.
Through months of hard work, the Flight 629 Memorial Committee is close to announcing the location of the future memorial.
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They are hoping Coloradans will open their hearts and help support the construction of the memorial, of which the design is coming to life.To learn more or to donate, go to their GoFundMe campaign at this link.
Denver7 has for years been covering the United Flight 629 crash, and in the video player below, you can watch a special half-hour program on the push to build the permanent memorial in Weld County.
United Flight 629 bombing: A push to build a permanent memorial
DENVER — Seventy years after the bombing of United Flight 629, one of Colorado’s deadliest tragedies, the families of the 44 victims met face-to-face ahead of Saturday’s memorial.
More than 100 loved ones gathered Friday inside the Denver Crime Lab, coming from across the country to share stories, memories, and grief that has quietly stretched across generations.
Friday’s memorial luncheon kicked off the weekend of activities the Denver Police Museum planned to permanently and officially recognize the 44 people killed when the plane exploded just minutes after taking off from Denver’s old Stapleton Airport on November 1, 1955.
Richard Butler
“When we first undertook this project, I didn’t know what to expect,” said Michael Hesse, president of the Denver Police Museum. “It’s been 70 years. Their families were so strong that they wanted to come here and recognize them.”
The museum spent the past two years tracing the victims’ family trees, identifying relatives through ancestry research, and inviting them to Denver for this milestone gathering. Many met one another for the first time Friday, united by a single event that changed aviation and Colorado history.
Investigators later determined that the explosion was caused by a dynamite bomb hidden in a suitcase. The bomber, intent on collecting insurance money, killed all 44 people on board — including his own mother — in what became the first confirmed case of airline sabotage in the United States.
For Shirley Rinn, whose mother, Alma Windsor, died on the flight, the event brought both closure and connection.
Denver Police Museum
Alma Windsor was on of the victims on United Flight 629
“My mom was a friend to everybody,” Rinn said. “We all loved her, and she was good to us. This is wonderful. I think this is the best thing that ever happened to me.”
Now 88 years old, Rinn told Denver7 she has spent decades without a sense of closure for her mother. Seeing more than 100 people gathered to honor the victims, she said, was proof that others still think about the lives lost.
Friday’s luncheon also recognized the families of the FBI agents who helped solve the case — men whose investigative work led to the bomber’s confession and changed how air disasters are investigated nationwide.
“It’s important for Coloradans to be aware of this,” Hesse said. “This had national and international implications.”
Hesse said the museum sees this project as part of its responsibility to preserve stories of both loss and resilience.
“There’s an old saying: You die twice: once when you physically pass, and again when people stop saying your name,” he said. “By building this memorial, we’re giving people a chance to keep saying their names.”
Richard Butler
Part of the official memorial
Families will gather at the old Stapleton Tower on Saturday for the unveiling of the first permanent granite memorial dedicated to the victims and first responders of United Flight 629. Twenty-one of the 44 victims will have family present at the ceremony.
Later Saturday evening, a symposium at Wings Over the Rockies Air & Space Museum will explore the investigation and its lasting impact on aviation safety and forensic science.
For the families of United Flight 629, this week marks the end of seven decades of silence and the beginning of shared remembrance.
Denver7’s coverage of United Flight 629 changed the way courtrooms are covered in Colorado. We continue to share the stories from that dark day many have forgotten.
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WELD COUNTY, Colo. – Sixty-nine years ago Friday, an act of terrorism in the Colorado skies left a painful mark that is still felt today in Weld County.
Denver7 has brought many stories of the tragic bombing of United Flight 629 because so many Coloradans have yet to learn what happened that cold November night in 1955.
There has never been a memorial or marker built to honor the victims, their families and the community of first responders and citizen heroes who responded to the beet fields where 44 people were killed.
FBI
This year, which marks 69 Novembers since that horrific night – and approaching next year’s 70th year since the tragedy, there’s a multi-pronged effort to build permanent memorials and further share the stories of the community and pay tribute to the victims of one of Colorado’s darkest days.
Denver7’s coverage of United Flight 629 changed the way courtrooms are covered in Colorado. We continue to share the stories from that dark day many have forgotten.
It was just after 7 p.m. on November 1, 1955.
United Airlines Flight 629 was a 4-engine DC 6 passenger aircraft – loaded with crew, passengers, cargo and fuel for the hop from Denver to Portland, Oregon, quickly departed Stapleton Airport to the northwest.
A few minutes later,Stapleton tower controllers noticed a bright flash in the sky and witnesses near Longmont heard and saw the huge explosion in the night sky.There was little anyone could do as the wreckage rained down onto the Weld County beet fields.
As the recovery efforts continued, the investigation quickly zeroed in on the DC 6’s cargo hold.
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An artifact from United Flight 629 on display at History Colorado
The Denver Police Museum eventually had possession of a piece of Flight 629’s mangled fuselage which is now on display at History Colorado.
“This is some pretty heavy gauge metal, and it’s just bent and torn to pieces,” said Jason Hanson, chief creative officer at History Colorado. “The force of the explosion, I think really comes through when you look at this.”
An artifact from United Flight 629 on display at History Colorado
He planted a homemade bomb in his own mother’s suitcase. When that timed bomb detonated above Longmont it killed Daisie King, Graham’s mother, and the 43 other passengers.
“There was a distinct smell of dynamite, so they knew something was wrong right from the get go,” said Michael Hesse, president of the Denver Police Museum. “And when they called Mr. Hoover from the FBI, he instructed them to immediately take all of the luggage and lay it out and pair the luggage with the victims.”
Hesse said despite the fact that the DC 6 exploded in mid air, most of the luggage was somewhat intact.
“Except for one bag – just common sense. The solid police work that went into that, that one bag obviously led them down a path and ultimately allowed them to solve this,” added Hesse.
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The 44 victims of the Flight 629 tragedy.
As the 70th approaches next November, Hesse is one of the community members working to build a permanent memorial to honor Flight 629.
“There wasn’t an awareness that this happened. It was largely forgotten,” said Hesse. “I have tried over the last several years to find out exactly why that’s the case. And I think part of it – is this happened in 1955 – just 10 years after the end of World War Two, after the Korean War I think that the public was a little more familiar with death.”
Hesse said the plan is to build a memorial outside the entrance of Flyteco Tower, the site of the old Stapleton Airport control tower.
“This is where the plane took off en route to Portland on November 1, 1955 and so having it here – as patrons come in – will hopefully serve as an educational opportunity,” said Hesse. “
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Michael Hesse, president of Denver Police Museum talks about a future permanent memorial outside FlyteCo Tower, the site of the old Stapleton control tower.
The memorial will be in the shape of an airplane fuselage, and it will be pointed northwest, which is the direction that the plane took off from the airport.”
The memorial will include names of the passengers and crew and will also honor the first responders.
“There will be the logos of the various agencies that responded. The FBI, the Denver Police Department, the Denver District Attorney, Weld and Larimer County Sheriff, volunteer firemen, and it’ll be the citizens too, we’re going to acknowledge that.”
The goal is to dedicate the memorial on November 1, 2025. They hope to get there by inviting the public to purchase Flight 629 challenge coins to help fund the memorial.
A mission to build a memorial honoring the bombing of Flight 629 in Colorado
“This challenge coin that we’ve designed to honor the victims will also create greater awareness and also donations so that we can pay for the memorial in front of the tower here,” said Hesse.
“They were all human beings. There were countless birthdays and anniversaries and things like that that were missed,” said Hesse.” It was this completely senseless tragedy. It breaks your heart, but we want to make sure the families know that their loved ones are not forgotten.”
“There will be an exhibition here that will help people engage with that story. I think we’re going to put it in a really high traffic area, so our hope is that people who aren’t familiar with the story, will be caught by it, and want to learn more,” said Hanson. “Our hope, always, is that people see our exhibitions and want to learn more when they leave, that we inspire and spark some curiosity and so that they will go and learn more on their own.”
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Becky Tesone with the Flight 629 Memorial Committee is helping lead the effort to build the permament memorial in Weld County, the site of the 1955 plane bombing.
And as more and more Coloradans learn about the tragedy, Becky Tesone – vice president of the Flight 629 Memorial Committee hopes they will be moved to open their hearts to help finally build a permanent memorial in Weld County as the 70th commemoration approaches.
“They have never had a monument, and they have never had their names read or candles lit for them,” said Tesone. “And so we want to do that, to break open what’s going to happen a year from November 1, which is the 70th anniversary of bringing the families back in.”
The vision for a future, permanent memorial in Weld County – where the plane went down – is still in the works, but the details are starting to come together.
FBI
The reconstruction of pieces of Flight 629’s fuselage at the old Stapleton Airport.
“What we picture it to be, will be four sides. One side will have the names on it, two sides will have pictures of places that were all connected,” Tesone said, “Greeley was connected with the armory where the bodies went. Stapleton is where they took off from, and where they went back and reassembled the plane. So that’s a key place, that’s where FlyteCo currently is.”
She said the hope is to have four benches along the memorial for people to reflect with a covering to protect visitors and the memorial from Colorado’s seasons.
“And we’re going to have a two-by-four foot plane made out of bronze on top of it. And that’s going to be the beauty of it,” said Tesone. “This was a huge tragedy that changed the laws of the airport for checking our baggage and put in new safety regulations. And then the piece about Channel 7 at the time being the first ones into the courtroom.”
The bombing of United Airlines 629 and a journey to forgiveness
The future memorial will be a place for the families of the victims and those who responded to reflect, gather and heal. And in these divisive times, the Flight 629 Memorial Committee hopes the memorial will serve as a place to lift up the service and sacrifice of first responders, emergency crews and ordinary neighbors whose courage and tenacity are examples of how people can come together.
“We need $30,000 and the goal was by the 31st of this month. I’m sure that Landmark Monument will let us stretch it a little bit, but they need to order what we are going to put on there,” said Tesone. “And we need a total of $150,000 that we could see in the near future just to lay the cement.”
“I know there’s people out there that can write a check for the whole thing. I know there’s people out there that can give us $5, $10 and all of it matters,” said Tesone. “All of it matters because what they put their money into is what they are a part of in their heart. And this is something that the heart needs healing for these people.”
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This Friday will mark 69 years since the United Flight 629 explosion. The public is invited to attend a first-ever commemoration which will include a candle lighting, reading of victim’s names and a time to reflect.
‘Remember the 44’ is at 6 p.m. at Carbon Valley Lutheran Church at 10916 Cimarron Street in Firestone.
Denver7 will keep you updated on the progress of the memorial and you can connect to the group’s efforts through the Flight 629 Memorial Facebook page.
You can watch this video report in the player below.
‘Remember the 44’: Sunset memorial to honor United Flight 629 tragedy on Friday
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