{"id":99663,"date":"2018-05-21T11:23:57","date_gmt":"2018-05-21T17:23:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/memorial-nears-completion-for-fallen-blue-angels-pilot\/"},"modified":"2018-05-21T11:23:57","modified_gmt":"2018-05-21T17:23:57","slug":"memorial-nears-completion-for-fallen-blue-angels-pilot","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/memorial-nears-completion-for-fallen-blue-angels-pilot\/","title":{"rendered":"Memorial nears completion for fallen Blue Angels pilot"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

<\/p>\n

A memorial for Marine Capt. Jeff Kuss, a Durango native and Blue Angels pilot, is nearing completion in Tennessee.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt sounds like it\u2019s going to be a beautiful tribute to his life and to the Blue Angels,\u201d said Janet Kuss, his mom.<\/p>\n

Kuss, 32, died in a plane crash June 2, 2016, as the Blue Angels prepared to perform in the Great Tennessee Air Show in Smyrna, Tennessee.<\/p>\n

A Blue Angel jet, an F\/A-18C Hornet, will be installed at the Kuss memorial in Lee Victory Recreation Park in Smyrna next week ahead of a dedication ceremony on June 9. The 21,600-pound jet is on permanent loan from the National Naval Aviation Museum in Pensacola, Florida.<\/p>\n

The Kuss family selected the date of the dedication ceremony, which will take place a week after the two-year anniversary of the captain\u2019s death, Janet Kuss said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a beautiful time. I can\u2019t wait to go,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\"An
An artist rendering of a memorial to Marine Capt. Jeff Kuss being built in Smyrna, Tenn. Kuss died in a crash in Smyrna while practicing with the Blue Angels for an air show.<\/span>Courtesy town of Smyrna, Tennessee<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Kuss plans to attend with her family, including her husband, Micheal; her son, Eric; and Jeff Kuss\u2019 widow, Christina. She also expects Kuss\u2019 Blue Angels team to be at the ceremony.<\/p>\n

\"Kuss\"
Kuss<\/span>du1-i-syn<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Kuss was born in Durango and graduated from Fort Lewis College. He was a decorated pilot who joined the Blue Angels in 2014.<\/p>\n

Before the Blue Angels, Kuss served in Afghanistan and was awarded the Strike Flight Air Medal and the Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal.<\/p>\n

The Durango community supported the Kuss family in a variety of ways, including a motorcade to honor his life, and through cards and letters, Janet Kuss said.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverywhere you go, people have said nice things to us,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

The town of Smyrna raised $1.27 million for the memorial. It is still working to reach its goal of $1.3 million, said Melissa Scott, a paralegal for the town government.<\/p>\n

To donate, visit CaptJeffKussUSMCMemorial.com<\/a> or text Jeff to 71777.<\/p>\n

mshinn@durangoherald.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

will be installed next week in Tennessee<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":99664,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5736,5735],"tags":[13,714],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-99663","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-news","category-news","tag-frontpage-lead","tag-human-interest"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99663","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=99663"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99663\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/99664"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=99663"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=99663"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=99663"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=99663"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}