The village of Lake Linden, on Michigan’s Keweenaw Peninsula in the Upper Peninsula, suffered a devastating fire in May 1887 that destroyed 75% of its structures. Although the frame village hall survived, the village leaders believed a new fireproof structure with space for a fire station would be in the community’s best interest. In 1901, the village requested architectural designs and chose one submitted by Charles K. Shand of Calumet. Built by local contractor L. F. Ursin, the hall opened in 1902 and served as village offices, a fire station, a polling place, and a public meeting hall.
A propeller from the Lady Be Good, an American B-24 Liberator lost in the Libyan Desert in April 1943, is on display in front of the village hall. Crew member T/Sgt. Robert E. LaMotte of Lake Linden was a radio operator aboard the aircraft. His remains were found in the desert in 1960.
The Lady Be Good mysteriously disappeared without a trace on its first combat mission during World War II. The plane, from the 376th Bomb Group, was on a bombing raid to Naples on April 4, 1943, when it was lost. Although the aircraft was presumed to have crashed into the Mediterranean Sea, with the loss of its nine-man crew, it was eventually found 440 miles inland in the Libyan Desert in 1958. The remains of all but one crew member have been recovered.
It was accidentally discovered by a BP oil exploration team in 1958. Investigations concluded that the crew failed to realize they had overflown their air base in a sandstorm, possibly mistaking the moonlight reflecting on the wavy sand dunes for the sea. After continuing south into the desert for many hours beyond their estimated time of arrival, they bailed out when the plane’s fuel ran out. The survivors then died in the desert attempting to walk to safety.
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