Plane Crash Site Where Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens & Big Bopper Died

Following a performance at the Surf Ballroom in Clear Lake, Iowa, on February 2, 1959, Buddy Holly chartered a small airplane to take him to the next stop on the tour. He, Valens, The Big Bopper (J.P. Richardson) and the pilot were killed en route to Moorhead, Minnesota, when their plane crashed soon after taking off from nearby Mason City in the early morning hours of February 3.

Buddy Holly is buried at the City of Lubbock Cemetery, in Lubbock, Tx, Ritchie Valens is buried at the San Fernando Mission Cemetery in Mission Hills, CA and J.P. Richardson is buried at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Beaumont, TX.

Crash Site
Clear Lake IA