The Nation - News from June 15, 1986

The Texas National Guard couldn’t do it in 25 tries, but a husky Mississippi National Guard helicopter came to the rescue and set the 3,000-pound Goddess of Liberty statue on top of the Texas Capitol. A crowd estimated by Austin police at 6,000 cheered as a “Sky Crane” helicopter flown in from Mississippi eased the new aluminum statue onto its 300-foot-high perch on a pole atop the Capitol dome. The new statue is a copy of the weather-beaten zinc original, which had become a safety hazard. After the mission, the four Mississippi crew members were given Texas Sesquicentennial medals and a heroes’ welcome, and were made honorary Texans.