Dag Hjalmar Agne Carl Hammarskjöld (1905-1961) was a Swedish economist and diplomat who served as the second Secretary-General of the United Nations from April 1953 until his death in September 1961.
On 17 September 1961, Dag was traveling on a mission to help broker a peace deal for the civil unrest raging in the Democratic Republic fo the Congo. He was flying, along with 18 other members of the UN staff and other international officials, to Ndola to meet with the prime minister of Katanga Province. As the plane was preparing to land in Ndola, it crashed, skimming the tops of the trees and finally hitting down near an anthill.
A road was built to the crash site, and a memorial was constructed, after Zambia gained its independence in 1964. In 1970, under the Forests Ordinance and National Monuments Ordinance, the area around the crash site was excised from the Ndola Forest Reserve and declared a National Monument.
The memorial is located 10 km west-north-west of Ndola.
Stamps and Postal Products
1971 – Dag Hammarskjold (1905-1961)
Postcards
1974 – Monterey Printing & Packaging Ltd (Type 1)
References
- Annual Report of the Forest Department – Zambia Forest Department (1970)
- Atlas Obscura
- Wikipedia: Dag Hammarskjöld Crash Site Memorial