Veterans gathered recently at a railway station in San Antonio, Texas, to honor Union Pacific’s 16th commemorative locomotive, UP No. 1943 “The Spirit Locomotive,” as the rail company launched its Salute to the Military Tour.
No. 1943 honors a Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress aircraft that Union Pacific workers financed in 1943 with war bond contributions, a UP release said. The plane, named The Spirit of the Union Pacific, was assigned to the 571st Bomber Squadron and was shot down on its fifth mission during World War II.
"Union Pacific is proud to honor veterans and the men and women bravely serving our country with a special locomotive representing every armed forces branch reflected in its symbolic design," Scott Moore, senior vice president for corporate relations, said in the release. "Beginning today ...The Spirit's mission is to salute them as it leads trains carrying America's goods across our network every day."
As the symbolic locomotive tours America’s heartland – visiting Louisiana, Arkansas, Kansas, Nebraska and Wyoming as well as Texas – it will display a banner dedicated to POWs and MIA soldiers reading “You Are Not Forgotten,” the release said
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