1942 — Feb 26, Bus with airmen hit by train, RR Crossing in snow storm near Enid, OK– 7

Compiled by Wayne Blanchard; last edit 6-30-2024 for upload to: http://www.usdeadlyevents.com/

— 7  Daily Ardmoreite, Ardmore, OK. “Seven Cadets Die in Bus Crash.” 2-26-1942, p. 1. 

— 7  Daily Ardmoreite, OK. “Wreck Which Caused Death of Seven Enlisted Men.” 2-27-1942, 1.

— 7  Encyclopaedia Britannica. 1945 Britannica Book of the Year. P. 238.

Narrative Information

Feb 26:  “Enid, Feb. 26. – (AP) – Seven enlisted men in the army air corps were killed and 24 injured today when a Rock Island freight train crashed into a bus during a blinding snow storm.  Two of the injured were in critical condition. The rest were expected to recover. The crash occurred at a crossing half a mile west of Enid.  A list of dead and injured supplied by Capt. Calvin W. Hammond, press relations officer of the Enid flying school where the men were stationed:  Dead:

Pvt. Herbert J. Taylor, 22, Lake Kerr, Fla.

Pvt. Eugene J. Sanders, 26, Yoakum, Texas.

Pvt. Vernon Ohnstead, 26, Georgetown, Minn.

Pvt. Robert W. Walker, 23, Bay City, Texas.

Pvt. Cyril J. Minarick, 21, Chicago.

Pvt. John Ludlum, 25, Battle Creek, Mich.

Pvt. Eugene L. Underwood, 23, Rogersville, Pa.

“Critically injured were:

Staff Sgt. Ernest M. Shultz, 25, Forrestburg, Texas.

First Sgt. George Showalter, 45, Sequin, Texas….

“Driver of the bus, which operates between the air base and the city of Enid, a distance of about four miles, was Wendell Thomas Smith, 28, of Enid, a civilian.  Hospital attendants said he would recover from his injuries. Captain Hammond said he understood Smith stopped at the crossing.  Smith gave the following account of the crash:

“I had shifted into third gear and was slowing down to stop at the crossing but the road was so slick from snow I couldn’t stop.  When I saw the lights of the train bearing down through the snow I speeded up in an attempt to cross but I didn’t quite make it. The train hit the back of the bus and turned it around.  If I hadn’t speeded up I would have landed right in the middle of the track.

“The soldiers, all on leave, were returning to their base at 12:15 a. m. when the crash occurred.  Maj. W. A. Stephens, post adjutant, said the bus carried between 35 and 40 men.  There were no pilots aboard.  He said there were no witnesses to the crash other than the bus occupants and the train crew.

“Carl Pugh, one of two investigating state highway patrolmen, said the snow was responsible for the crash.  ‘There was a heavy snow falling,’ he said, ‘and the driver of the bus started to made the required stop, but looked south down the track and saw the train coming.  The bus wheels skidded on the snowy road and he saw he couldn’t stop, so he tried to beat the train across.  Men were scattered up and down the right of way after the crash and one of them was pinned under the wreckage.  The bus was shattered at the point of contact’.”  (Daily Ardmoreite, Ardmore, OK. “Seven Cadets Die in Bus Crash.” 2-26-1942, pp. 1-2.)

Sources

Daily Ardmoreite, Ardmore, OK. “Seven Cadets Die in Bus Crash.” 2-26-1942, p. 1.  At: http://newspaperarchive.com/fullpagepdfviewer?img=206990002&sterm=enid+bus

Daily Ardmoreite, Ardmore, OK. “Wreck Which Caused Death of Seven Enlisted Men.” 2-27-1942, 1. http://newspaperarchive.com/fullpagepdfviewer?img=206846060&sterm=enid+bus

Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc., 1945 Britannica Book of the Year.  1945.