Compiled by Wayne Blanchard; last edit 5-10-2024 for upload to: http://www.usdeadlyevents.com/

–15 Moran. Explosive Accident Summary: [WW] II. DoD Explosives Safety Board, 1992, p.116

–15 Salisbury Times, MD. “15 Known Dead, 54 Injured in Elkton Blast,” May 5, 1943, p. 1.

–15 Window on Cicil Count’s Past. “Remembering Triumph’s Home Front Defense Workers…”

–13 Lockhart Post-Register, TX. “The Year in Review…Disasters,” Jan 6, 1944, p. 6.

Narrative Information

Moran: “In Elkton, Maryland the Triumph Explosives Company experienced a detonation in a granulator on 4 May 1943 which propagated to four buildings, killing 15 and injuring 64. No one

in the plant was aware that explosives overloads had completely defeated Q-D separations. The area was not designed for the production rate required by the war.” (Moran, Edward P. Jr. Explosive Accident Summary: World War II. DoD Explosives Safety Board, Aug 1992m p. 116.)

Window on Cicil Count’s Past. “Remembering Triumph’s Home Front Defense Workers…

“May 5, 1943 – The state’s worst fireworks-munitions plant explosion killed fifteen workers and injured about 60 more. A series of blasts were followed by fires that destroyed two plant buildings and spread to three other Triumph Explosives, Inc structures.

“The explosion occurred in a building that was used to manufacture tracer bullets. Seconds later an adjoining building blew up. Fire companies from five communities aided plant firemen in battling the flames. Later, a fire broke out in a canteen filled with employees, resulting in many injuries.

“The plant hospital was quickly filled, along with a 25-bed Civil Defense Emergency Hospital setup on the grounds, but the more seriously injured were rushed to Union Hospital. Throughout the night medical personnel performed life-saving procedures. Later, bodies were taken to the Pippin Funeral Home on East Main Street. Hundreds stood silently ‘outside under the old trees, which line the street,’ as people entered the undertaking parlor to try to identify the dead.

“Benjamin F. Pepper, President of the company, appealed to the corporation’s 13,000 employees to return to work immediately. ‘We will do everything in our power to prevent any similar accident and to fight on with you harder than ever before,’ was printed on red, white and blue signs posted in surrounding communities.

“After a seventeen-hour shutdown, thousands of workers “hushed and grim-faced, slowly filed through the guard gates at Triumph Explosive. ending the seventeen-hour shutdown that followed the incident, the Evening Sun reported (May 5, 1943).”

Fatalities

Willie Craddock, South Boston, VA.
Mauhee Nediffer, Allentown Hills, WV.
Susan Nolli, Eynon, PA
Charles Millman, Camden, DE
Della Truman, Cedar Grove, WV
Ellis Simmons, Elkton
Iva Young Ward, W.V
Wilson Warner, Elkton
Mrs. Hurley Galmore, Coatesville, PA
Christine Erby, Raleigh NC
Jake Peatross, Danville, VA
Gilbert Poore, Warwick, MD.
Harry Rias, Dover, DE
Chester Whaley, Wilmington, DE
Ivy Young, Ward, WV.

(Window on Cicil Count’s Past. “Remembering Triumph’s Home Front Defense Workers Who Made the Ultimate Sacrifice.” 5-28-2018.)

Newspaper Account:

May 5: “Elkton, May 5 — (AP) — Rescue workers dug today into the charred ruins of five Triumph Explosives, Inc., buildings on the outskirts of this small war boom city seeking additional bodies while investigating officials sought to determine cause of an explosion in which 15 persons are known to have died.

“Five of at least 54 persons injured in the explosion that was followed by fire were in serious condition and 19 others were under hospital treatment. Thirty women were given first aid and released.

“Even as the wreckage was being cleared, other employes returned to work in other buildings, answering a call of Army, Navy and plant officials to “continue passing the ammunition.”
One storage building was blown to bits and another was wrecked by a second explosion within seconds in mid-afternoon yesterday. Fire spread to three others, burning many workers severely.
Window panes and plate glass in homes and business establishments were shattered and cracked by the explosion that was heard for miles around. Ambulances, fire equipment, Red Cross units, Civilian Defense workers, State police and others sped to the scene…..

The dead and injured were from many different states, having come here in the heavy influx of defense workers who caused the population of this little Gretna Green, famous all along the Atlantic seaboard, to jump from 3,516 in the 1940 census to an estimated 12,000 now.
The company hospital quickly was filled and the overflow was taken to Elkton’s Union Hospital and to churches, in front of which crowds of anxious relatives gathered. Few families here do not have some members engaged in the plant….

“Elkton, May 5 — (AP) — The Triumph Explosives, Inc., issued an official casualty list today, 15 dead, and 54 injured in yesterday’s blast. Thirty women employes were released after treatment for minor injuries, and the remaining 24 were confined in two hospitals….” (Salisbury Times (MD). “15 Known Dead, 54 Injured in Elkton Blast,” May 5, 1943, p. 1.)

Sources

Lockhart Post-Register, TX. “The Year in Review…Disasters,” 1-6-1944, p. 6. Accessed at: http://www.newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=158478718

Moran, Edward P. Jr. Explosive Accident Summary: World War II. DoD Explosives Safety Board, Aug 1992. Accessed 4-19-2013: http://www.dtic.mil/cgi-bin/GetTRDoc?AD=ADA507027

Salisbury Times, MD. “15 Known Dead, 54 Injured in Elkton Blast,” May 5, 1943, p. 1. Accessed at: http://www.newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=26004323

Window on Cicil Count’s Past. “Remembering Triumph’s Home Front Defense Workers Who Made the Ultimate Sacrifice.” 5-28-2018. Accessed 5-10-2024 at: https://cecilcountyhistory.com/remembering-triumph-home-front-defense-workers/

1943 — May 4, Explosion, Triumph Explosives Inc. Munitions Plant, Elkton, MD — 15