20th Century

1944 — July 21, 3 USAAF C-47s in 54 C-47 flight lost, Atlantic, 25M off Cape Fear, NC–15

lornajarrettblanchard July 21, 1944

Compiled by Wayne Blanchard; last edit 3-30-2024 for upload to: http://www.usdeadlyevents.com/

–15 Mireles 2006. Fatal Army AF Aviation Accidents…US…, V2, July 1943-July 1944, p. 864.

–15 Wikipedia. “List of accidents and incidents involving military aircraft (1943-1944).”

Narrative Information

Mireles: “At an unknown time after 2200 EWT (0200Z), three Douglas C-47 airplanes disappeared over the Atlantic Ocean approximately 25 miles southeast of Cape Fear, North Carolina. All 15 crewmembers aboard the three transports were missing and presumed lost at sea. Investigators stated,

Three aircraft in the following positions in a mass flight of fifty-four C-47 type aircraft flying in a close formation, V of V’s, number 3 of the first flight of the third squadron of nine aircraft, and number 1 and 2 of the second flight, on right: element, of the same squadron, lost: contact with the squadron leader and failed to make landfall when the leader ordered a 180-degree turn and assembly over the coastline after running into a rainstorm. The squadron leader, upon encountering rain conditions, planned on climbing the flight straight ahead until sufficient altitude (flight had been conducted at 500 feet above the water) was gained for a safe turn but was forced to make a sharp right turn by proximity of another flight crossing his path dead ahead. In making this sharp right turn the ships of his second, or right, element were observed to cross the path of the leading element, passing between number 1 and number 2 of this element, and giving basis for an assumption that members of this second flight might have collided with number 3 of the leading element, or so diverted his flight path that all three aircraft lost flying speed and fell off into the sea. Extended search over the immediate area and the area within 100 miles radius, without locating any trace precluding forced landings and ditchings for other causes. This search was conducted over three days by 40 aircraft, cargo type with multiple observers, two dirigibles and 20 surface craft in combined efforts by the Army, Navy and Coast Guard…. From the testimony given at the investigation it appears … that the three aircraft failed to return from this mission due to a midair collision, stalling in formation and falling into the sea out of control, or flying directly into the sea while on instruments under the influence of vertigo. All three are possibilities. From the meager and conflicting testimonies, it is not possible to draw a more accurate or any further conclusion [as to the cause of the disappearance of the three airplanes].

“The three transports and crews were stationed at Pope Field, Fayetteville, North Carolina.” (Mireless 2006, 864.)

Wikipedia. “List of accidents and incidents involving military aircraft (1943-1944).”

“Three US Army Air Force Douglas C-47’s (42-100712, 42-92115, and 43-30664) disappear while flying at 500 feet over the Atlantic Ocean. The three aircraft lost radio contact with the squadron leader and flew into a storm.[1]

Lost aboard 42-100712 were:

1Lt. William E. Bechelm, Jr., of Illinois,

2Lt. Oakes M. Colwell of New Jersey,

2Lt. Donald W. Copeland of Iowa,

Sergeant Leo C. Fair of Louisiana, and

Sergeant Edward G. Hillman of Pennsylvania.

Lost aboard 42-92115 were:

1Lt. Chris C. Nicorvo of New Jersey,

2Lt. Junior R. Davidson of Oklahoma,

Flight Officer James M. Crew of Alabama,

Staff Sergeant Fred J. Carini of Pennsylvania, and

Sergeant Frank E. Sherwood of New York.

Lost aboard 43-30664 were:

Captain Robert J. Miskell of Ohio,

2Lt. Milton J. Verberg of Michigan,

2Lt. Walter H. Zuidema (origin unknown),

Corporal Roger O. Weston of Massachusetts, and

Sergeant Ben L. Dean of Texas.”

[There are no citations for the named facilities, thus we do not know where this information came from.]

Sources

Mireles, Anthony J. Fatal Army Air Forces Aviation Accidents in the United States, 1941-1945 (Volume 2: July 1943 – July 1944). Jefferson, NC: McFarland and Co., 2006.

Wikipedia. “List of accidents and incidents involving military aircraft (1943-1944).” Accessed 3-30-2024 at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_accidents_and_incidents_involving_military_aircraft_(1943%E2%80%931944)

[1] Cites the Aviation Safety Network. [The ASN cites Mireless, who does not name the facilities, and Aviation Archaeological Investigation and Research [and this link goes to an Error 404.0 – not Found page.

20th Century

1944 – July 20, 2 USAAF B-24Js in 18-ship flight enter clouds/collide/crash, 1M N Roswell, NM–10

lornajarrettblanchard July 20, 1944

Compiled by Wayne Blanchard; last edit 3-30-2024 for upload to: http://www.usdeadlyevents.com/

–10 AP. “Two B-24 bombers crash near Roswell.” Wichita Daily Times, Wichita Falls, TX. 7-21-1944, 6.

–10 Mireles 2006. Fatal Army AF Aviation Accidents…US…, V2, July 1943-July 1944, p. 862.

Narrative Information

Mireles: “At 1045 MWT, two Consolidated B-24J airplanes flying in instrument conditions apparently collided in mid-air one mile north of Roswell, New Mexico, killing ten fliers and injuring seven others, one seriously….

“The airplanes were part of an 18-ship flight that had taken off from Biggs Field, San Antonio, Texas, on a high- altitude formation training flight. B-24J #42-100144 was flying in the number-four position and B-24J #4273361 was flying in the number-six position of the lead squadron. The formation encountered a large cumulus cloud, punched through and went on instruments. After entering the overcast, B-24J #42-73361 began losing altitude and the pilot soon lost control of the airplane and it entered a steep dive. The pilot was unable to regain control of his airplane and he ordered the crew to bail out. B-24J #42-100144 immediately went out of control after the apparent collision and it spun to the ground where it exploded into flames upon impact. Investigators noted that the port vertical fin of B-24J #100144 was dented and had evidence of foreign paint on it. The dent on the port vertical stabilizer was in the shape of a B-24 wingtip light, causing investigators to speculate that a collision had occurred while the airplanes were flying in zero visibility. The surviving pilots testified to investigators that they were unaware of a mid-air collision, but they were not able to state with any certainty that a collision had not occurred.” (Mireles 2006, pp. 862-863.)

Newspaper

July 21, AP: “El Paso, Texas, July 21. (AP) – An official board of inquiry from Biggs Field today sought the cause of a double crash of B-24 bombers near Roswell, N.M., in which 10 men were killed and seven parachuted to safety. One crash was a mile north of that city with the entire crew of nine men being killed. The other was 20 miles north of Roswell with only one crew member dying in the crash. It was from this bomber that the seven men parachuted to safety with Cpl. William T. Schaeffer, a gunner, receiving a broken leg in landing. Both crashes occurred about 11 a.m. yesterday and came during routine combat training missions. There were no Texans among the dead.” (Associated Press. “Two B-24 Bombers Crash Near Roswell.” Wichita Daily Times, Wichita Falls, TX. 7-21-1944, p. 6.)

Sources

Associated Press. “Two B-24 Bombers Crash Near Roswell.” Wichita Daily Times, Wichita Falls, TX. 7-21-1944, p. 6. Accessed 3-30-2024 at:

https://newspaperarchive.com/wichita-daily-times-jul-21-1944-p-6/

Mireles, Anthony J. Fatal Army Air Forces Aviation Accidents in the United States, 1941-1945 (Volume 2: July 1943 – July 1944). Jefferson, NC: McFarland and Co., 2006.

20th Century

1944 – July 20, two USAAF B-17Fs in formation collide midair, N of Brooksville, FL — 10

lornajarrettblanchard July 20, 1944

Compiled by Wayne Blanchard; last edit 3-31-2024 for upload to: http://www.usdeadlyevents.com/

–10 AP. “Eight Airmen Die in Florida Crash.” Centralia Evening Sentinel, IL. 7-21-1944, p. 7.

[Two missing.]

–10 Mireles 2006. Fatal Army AF Aviation Accidents…US…, V2, July 1943-July 1944, p. 861.

Narrative Information

Mireles: “At 0745 EWT, two Boeing B-17F airplanes collided in mid-air at Brooksville, Florida, killing ten fliers and injuring five. Nine crewmembers were able to parachute to safety and five were uninjured. The airplanes had taken off from Drew Field, Tampa, Florida, on an air-to-air gunnery exercise and high altitude formation mission. B-17F #42-3464 was leading the formation at an altitude of 10,000 feet when B-17F #4229548, flying in the number-two position, fell out of position. The pilot attempted to regain his position and failed to maintain the proper interval. As B47F#42-3464 began a shallow turn to the left to allow the other airplane a chance to form up, B-17F #42-29548 flew underneath and then pulled up into the lead airplane. B-17F #42-29548 fell out of control and smashed to earth where it exploded into flames upon impact. Lt. Niederriter was forced to make a forced landing in B-17F #42-3464 because his parachute was inadvertently deployed in the aircraft as he attempted to leave the flight deck. Lt. Fraser volunteered to give Lt. Niederriter a hand in landing the ship, but the instructor ordered him to bail out.” (Mireles 2006, p. 861.)

Newspaper

July 21, AP: “Tampa, Fla., July 21 (AP) – Eight airmen were killed, ten slightly injured and two are still missing following collision of two flying Fortresses flying in combat training from Drew field yesterday north of Brooksville. Sill missing: Cp. John G. Pollock, 25, son of Mrs. Mary Pollock, Stonington, Ill.” (Associated Press. “Eight Airmen Die in Florida Crash.” Centralia Evening Sentinel, IL. 7-21-1944, p. 7.)

July 21, AP: “….The known dead as announced by the field included: T. Sgt. Wm. H. Hopkins, 22, son of Mrs. Maebelle C. Hopkins, R.F.D. 2, Belton, S.C.” (Associated Press. “Eight Airmen Die” The Gastonia Daily Gazette, NC. 7-21-1944, p. 6.)

July 21, AP: “….The known dead, as announced by the field, included: 2^nd Lt. Ernest B. Rockwell, 22, son of Mrs. Anna Mae S. Rockwell, 601 Lauderdale Street, Selma, Ala.” (Associated Press. “2 Flying Fors Collide in Air.” The Decatur Daily, AL. 7-21-1944, p. 2.)

July 22, UP: “Tampa, Fla. – (U.P.) Eight fliers were killed, 10 were injured and two were reported missing Friday after two Flying Fortresses collided in flight near Brooksville, Fla….The dead included Pfc. John F. Gleason, Milwaukee, Wis.” (United Press. “Eight Fliers Killed.” Telegraph-Herald, Dubuque, IA. 7-23-1944, p. 10.)

Sources

Associated Press. “2 Flying Fors Collide in Air.” The Decatur Daily, AL. 7-21-1944, p. 2. Accessed 3-31-2024 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/decatur-daily-jul-21-1944-p-2/

Associated Press. “Eight Airmen Die” The Gastonia Daily Gazette, NC. 7-21-1944, p. 6. Accessed 3-31-2024 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/gastonia-daily-gazette-jul-21-1944-p-6/

Associated Press. “Eight Airmen Die in Florida Crash.” Centralia Evening Sentinel, IL. 7-21-1944, p. 7. Accessed 3-31-2024 at:

https://newspaperarchive.com/centralia-evening-sentinel-jul-21-1944-p-7/

Mireles, Anthony J. Fatal Army Air Forces Aviation Accidents in the United States, 1941-1945 (Volume 2: July 1943 – July 1944). Jefferson, NC: McFarland and Co., 2006.

United Press. “Eight Fliers Killed.” Telegraph-Herald, Dubuque, IA. 7-23-1944, p. 10. Accessed 3-31-2024 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/dubuque-telegraph-herald-jul-23-1944-p-10/

20th Century

1944 — July 19, USAAF B-24J #42-51617 Breaks-up/Crashes 5M N of Touchet, WA — 12

lornajarrettblanchard July 19, 1944

Compiled by Wayne Blanchard; last edit 3-31-2024 for upload to: http://www.usdeadlyevents.com/

— 12 Associated Press. “Crash Kills 12.” Burlington Hawk-Eye Gazette, IA. 7-20-1944, p. 1.

— 12 Bureau of Aircraft Accident Archives. “Crash…B-24J…Near Touched: 12 Killed.”

— 12 Mireles 2006. Fatal Army AF Aviation Accidents…US…, V2, July 1943-July 1944, p. 860.

Narrative Information

Bureau of Aircraft Accident Archives:

“Date & Time: Jul 19, 1944 at 1200 LT

“Type of aircraft: Consolidated B-24 Liberator

“Operator: USAAF

“Registration: 42-51617

“Flight Phase: Flight

“Flight Type: Training

“Survivors: No

“Site: Plain, Valley

“Schedule: Walla Walla – Walla Walla

“MSN: 3148

“Location: Touchet, Washington

….

“Crew of Board: 12

“Crew fatalities: 12

….

“Circumstances: The aircraft left Walla Walla Airport for a training exercise. En route, the

aircraft went out of control, dove into the ground and crashed in a field located near Touchet. All 12 occupants were killed.

“Probable cause: The loss of control was apparently caused by a structural failure in flight.”

Mireles: “At 1025, a Consolidated B-24J [42-52617] broke up in flight and crashed five miles north of Touchet, Washington, killing 12 crew and passengers. The airplane was the lead airplane of a flight of six B-24s that had taken off from Walla-Walla Army Air Field, Washington, on a high-altitude formation flight and bombing mission. When the flight arrived at the AAF Bombing Range, the bombing mission was cancelled because of poor visibility and overcast conditions. The flight leader elected to climb the formation up through the overcast to continue with the high-altitude formation mission. A short time later, a pilot flying in the vicinity reported that he observed pieces of a large airplane falling out of the overcast. The airplane broke into several large pieces and hundreds of smaller pieces. Wreckage was scattered over an area of five miles long and two miles wide. No crew members were able to parachute to safety.” (Mireless 2006, p. 860.)

Newspaper

July 20, AP: “Walla Walla, Wash. – (AP) – A Liberator bomber from Walla Walla army air field crashed Wednesday near Touchet, 17 miles west of here, killing all 12 crewmen, Col. David Wade, commanding officer of the base, announced Thursday. Witnesses said the plane exploded in the air.” (Associated Press. “Crash Kills 12.” Burlington Hawk-Eye Gazette, IA. 7-20-1944, p. 1.)

Sources

Associated Press. “Crash Kills 12.” Burlington Hawk-Eye Gazette, IA. 7-20-1944, p. 1. Accessed 3-31-2024 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/burlington-hawk-eye-gazette-jul-20-1944-p-17/

Bureau of Aircraft Accident Archives. “Crash of a Consolidated B-24J-10-FO Liberator Near Touched: 12 Killed.” Accessed 3-31-2024 at: https://www.baaa-acro.com/crash/crash-consolidated-b-24j-10-fo-liberator-near-touchet-12-killed

Mireles, Anthony J. Fatal Army Air Forces Aviation Accidents in the United States, 1941-1945 (Volume 2: July 1943 – July 1944). Jefferson, NC: McFarland and Co., 2006.

20th Century

1944 — July 17, Munitions Ships Explosion, Pier 1, Naval Mag., Port Chicago, CA –320-325

lornajarrettblanchard July 17, 1944

1944 — July 17, Munitions Ships Explosion, Pier 1, Naval Mag., Port Chicago, CA –320-325

–320-325 Blanchard estimate.*

— 325 Moran. Explosive Accident Summary: [WW] II. DoD Explosives Safety Board, 1992, 118.
— 322 History.com. This Day in History, Disaster, July 17, 1944, “Port Chicago Disaster.”
— 322 National Fire Protection Association, Key Dates in Fire History, 1996.
— 322 NFPA. U.S. Unintentional Fire Death Rates By State.” December 2008.
— 320 History.com. Shockwave, “Explosion at Post Chicago”) ; Collins 2003, p. 184.
— 320 National Park Ser. Port Chicago Naval Magazine National Memorial. Accessed 5-17-2020.
— 320 US Dept. Navy. “Casualties: US Navy…Marine Corps Personnel Killed and Injured…”
— 300+ National Fire Protect. Assoc. Spreadsheet on Large Loss of Life Fires (as of Feb 2003).
–>300 Oakland Tribune. “300 Die in Bay Arms Ship Blast. Port Chicago Razed…” 7-18-1944.

Merchant Marine Liberty ship E. A. Bryan.
–44 (31 crew and 13 Armed Guard) AMMW. Chronological List of U.S. Ships Sunk or Damaged…
Merchant Marine Victory ship Quinault Victory
–53 (36 crew and 17 Armed Guard) AMMW. Chronological List of U.S. Ships Sunk or Damaged…

*While it appears to us that the death toll was 320 (as noted, for example by the National Park Service), we are reluctant to dismiss as inaccurate other sources noting a higher death toll – especially Moran’s notation of 325 deaths in his study for the Explosives Safety Board of the Department of Defense.

Narrative Information

History.com: “An ammunition ship explodes while being loaded in Port Chicago, California, killing 332 people on this day in 1944. The United States’ World War II military campaign in the Pacific was in full swing at the time. Poor procedures and lack of training led to the disaster.

“Port Chicago, about 30 miles north of San Francisco, was developed into a munitions facility when the Naval Ammunition Depot at Mare Island, California, could not fully supply the war effort. By the summer of 1944, expansion of the Port Chicago facility allowed for loading two ships at once around the clock. The Navy units assigned to the dangerous loading operations were generally segregated African-American units. For the most part, these men had not been trained in handling munitions. Additionally, safety standards were forgotten in the rush to keep up frenetic loading schedules.

“On the evening of July 17, the SS Quinault Victory and SS E.A. Bryan, two merchant ships, were being loaded. The holds were being packed with 4,600 tons of explosives–bombs, depth charges and ammunition. Another 400 tons of explosives were nearby on rail cars.

“Approximately 320 workers were on or near the pier when, at 10:18 p.m., a series of massive explosions over several seconds destroyed everything and everyone in the vicinity. The blasts were felt as far away as Nevada and the resulting damage extended as far as San Francisco. Every building in Port Chicago was damaged and people were literally knocked off their feet. Smoke and fire extended nearly two miles into the air. The pilot of a plane flying at 9,000 feet in the area claimed that metal chunks from the explosion flew past him.

“Nearly two-thirds of the people killed at Port Chicago were African-American enlisted men in the Navy–15 percent of all African-Americans killed during World War II. The surviving men in these units, who helped put out the fires and saw the horrors firsthand, were quickly reassigned to Mare Island. Less than a month later, when ordered to load more munitions, but still having received no training, 258 African-American sailors refused to carry out the orders. Two hundred and eight of them were then sentenced to bad conduct discharges and pay forfeiture. The remaining 50 men were put on trial for general court martial. They were sentenced to between eight and 15 years of hard labor, though two years later all were given clemency. A 1994 review of the trials revealed race played a large factor in the harsh sentences. In December 1999, President Clinton pardoned Freddie Meeks, one of only three of the 50 convicted sailors known to be alive at the time.

“The Port Chicago disaster eventually led to the implementation of far safer procedures for loading ammunition. In addition, greater emphasis was put on proper training in explosives handling and the munitions themselves were altered for greater safety. There is now a national memorial to the victims at the site.” (History.com. This Day in History, Disaster, July 17, 1944, “Port Chicago Disaster.”)

History.com: “As segregated African-American naval units had been assigned the dangerous work — without much in the way of training–nearly two-thirds of the people killed at Port Chicago were African-American enlisted men, 15 percent of all African-Americans killed during World War II.” (History.com. Shockwave, “Explosion at Post Chicago”)

Moran: “The most disastrous events in the history of chemical explosives involve ships. The most significant explosive accident in this country during World War II occurred at NAD Port Chicago (Concord, California) when 3.75 million pounds of HE detonated in railcars, on the dock and aboard the USS E.A. Bryan, killing 325 and injuring 392. No one inside of 1,000 feet survived, and no one outside that distance perished. Damage was carefully documented by Bob Herman in DDESB Technical Paper 6 (AD 223344). Many of the current DoD Q-D standards are based on this report.” (Moran, Edward P. Jr. Explosive Accident Summary: World War II. DoD Explosives Safety Board, Aug 1992, p. 118.)

US Dept. Navy: “Munitions explosion on Pier #1 at US Naval Magazine, Port Chicago CA. 241 Navy, 1 Marine, 5 Coast Guard and 73 civilians killed; 390 injured including 233 African-American Navy personnel. 17 Jul. 1944.” (US Dept. Navy. “Casualties: US Navy…Marine Corps Personnel Killed and Injured…”)

Newspapers

July 18: “More than 300 men were killed and hundreds of men and women were injured last night in a terrific explosion that destroyed two ammunition ships loading near Port Chicago, and shook homes and business buildings throughout the Bay area.

“The Navy, taking count of the tragedy today, found that at least two merchant ships were sunk, two Coast Guard picket boats probably went down, a fireboat was missing and an oil tanker was damaged. More than 10,000 tons of explosives were set off by the blast. The force of the explosion, which shook residents out of their beds and broke windows 50 miles away, centered in the two vessels loading shells at the dock between Avon and Port Chicago, in Contra Costa County.

“No cause for the blast was given officially, and the Navy said there was nothing to indicate sabotage. A sailor from one of the ships, though, said it was possible that a heavy shell or bomb had been dropped on the steel deck to touch off what amounted to two arsenals.

“The- Navy warned that “casualties will be heavy” as it investigated what probably will prove to be one of the worst disasters in American wartime history. At least 130 of the victims were believed to be civilians.

“Several hours later local authorities called for Army demolition experts to disarm a shell lying in a Port Chicago street. The soldier engineers were ordered out from Camp Stoneman, at Pittsburg, to take care of the shell.

“At the same time, farmers reported they were finding unexploded shells scattered throughout the countryside. They said they were fearful there might be further explosions and loss of life if the shells were not picked up immediately.

“The first of the ships was identified as the Quinault Victory, built in the Portland yards of the Oregon Shipbuilding Corporation, and delivered just a week ago. It was sponsored by the workers in the mould loft of the yard as part of the Fifth War Loan drive.

“The other vessel was the E. A. Bryan of the Oliver J. Olson Lines, built at Richmond and launched last February 29.

“The shock of the original double blast was so terrific it woke up sleepers in Oakland, more, than 20 miles away hurled 200-pound chunks of metal a mile and a half, and almost flattened the town of Port Chicago, more than a mile from the scene.

“Residents of Martinez, five miles from the dock, were awakened at 10:19 p.m. by a great sheet of white fire that flashed across the sky. An instant later, the first of the two explosions knocked them from their beds. All spectators were dazed by the terror of the explosions, but all agreed that there were two blasts. The first apparently sank one ship and the second accounted for the other.

“Observers this morning found pieces of jagged metal more than a mile from the scene, and one farmer reported that he had picked up a five-inch shell two miles away.

“Both merchant ships sank at their pier and the subsequent explosions and fire sent the Coast Guard rescue vessels to the bottom.

“The scene of carnage along the wharf was so bad today that Navy officers were reluctant to permit civilian photographers on the scene. However, observers got into the yards later this morning and found one of the ships completely sunk and the other showing only its stern above water. It looked, they said, like a hurricane had hit the area, with only the stumps of piling poking out of the bay and freight cars blown asunder on land. “It looks,” one of the men said, “as though there never had been a pier there.” Special guards stood by scattered shells with red flags, warning to passersby that they were treading in dangerous territory.

“At the same time, Dr. W. A. Powell, county health officer, and State Sanitary Inspector Thomas McMorrow warned residents of Port Chicago by loudspeaker system that they must watch for broken mains. “Every store in the town was shot to hell,” one reporter said, “and it didn’t look to me as if a man could live there.”

“The San Francisco-Disaster Relief organization set up headquarters in the grammar school as soon as word of the catastrophe was learned….

“Within seconds after the blast, the Navy called for every available service and civilian doctor and nurse in the area. It repeated its pleas until 1 a.m., when local radio stations were notified they could stop their broadcasts. By that time, though, the highways to Martinez and Port Chicago were jammed, and the medical men trying to reach the magazine depot were unable to make their way through. Sixty doctors from Mare Island alone answered the call. They were joined by hundreds of others in this area for the week-end. Greyhound busses were ordered to run special trips to the depot, but they were stopped far short of their destination by the traffic over the highways….

“In addition to the depot’s personnel, two men were missing from Coast Guard picket boats, two were injured, and two were missing from the fireboat’ that answered the first alarm….

“John Miller, former sheriff of Contra Costa County, now civilian defense coordinator for the area, estimated that at least 200 civilians were injured when the ships blew up. They were treated at hospitals throughout the county and by private physicians…

“The ammunition magazine, a comparatively new installation one mile out of Port Chicago, was a shambles when the first spectators reached it. Buildings were collapsed and hearses were carrying a procession of bodies out of the reservation.

“Officers declined to tell what had happened in the stockade, but it was apparent that the explosion blasted buildings to the ground without spreading the detonations. It was possible that block-buster bombs were mixed with the ammunition that exploded.

“Force of the explosion was so great that it knocked the needle off the seismograph at the University of California and led people in Oakland to think they had been bombed by the Japanese….

“The Red Cross was alerted and prepared to take care of as many as 1500 persons from Port Chicago. The little town virtually was evacuated, and between 150 and 200 homes appeared to be uninhabitable. Not a single building in the town escaped damage, and most were described as “complete losses.” Thousands of dollars more damage was done in Martinez, but it apparently confined itself largely to broken windows….

“Shells were hurled as far as Walnut Creek….

“The Navy said that the two ammunition ships did not blow to bits, but it was obvious that everything above the waterline on both vessels had been torn to pieces.

“Glass and debris littered streets in most of Contra Costa County, and at an early hour today men, women and children were walking the streets wearing bloody bandages. Military police and shore patrol helped them to dressing stations, where nurses and doctors gave first aid.

“Volunteer workers poured in from all parts of Alameda. Solano and Contra Costa counties, but the Army and Navy took over the situation and conducted operations after the first hour….

“A double line of vehicles, principally ambulances and hearses, was parked bumper to bumper for more than a mile west of the scene….

“Worse Than ’06 Quake”

“….Undertaking parlors as far away as Stockton received bodies before they could call in attendants. Identification at first was virtually impossible….

“Every type of vehicle, from taxicabs to trucks, was pressed into service to move the dead and injured. The cars formed a steady parade through the depot gates, which were flood-lighted to aid the sentries….” (Oakland Tribune, CA. “300 Die in Bay Arms Ship Blast. Port Chicago Razed by 2-Ship Explosion.” 7-18-1944, pp. 1-2.)

July 18: “Pittsburg, Calif., July 18 – At least two-thirds of the plate glass windows in downtown area stores were blown out by the concussion of the Port Chicago munitions blast last night. Port Chicago is about four miles from here….

“A short time after the explosion, authorities saw a man attempting to steal a watch from a jewelry store window. To prevent such looting, Chief of Police Sal Jimmo [unclear] called out his auxiliary police force and asked the Army to send armed troops from Camp Stoneman to help guard the stores. Merchants then were summoned, and all of the display windows were cleaned out early today….

“A large number of Pittsburg residents were treated for cuts received from flying glass at the time of the explosion…” (Oakland Tribune, CA. “Pittsburg Hit Hard by Blast.” 7-18-1944, p. 2.)

Sources

American Merchant Marine at War. Chronological List of Ships Sunk or Damaged during 1944. Accessed 6-2-2021 at: http://www.usmm.org/sunk44.html#anchor412649

Cornell, James. The Great International Disaster Book (Third Edition). New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1982.

History.com. Shockwave. “Explosion at Port Chicago.” Accessed at: http://www.history.com/minisite.do?content_type=Minisite_Generic&content_type_id=56904&display_order=3&mini_id=56902

History.com. This Day in History, Disaster, July 17, 1944. “Port Chicago Disaster.” Accessed 12/7/2008 at: http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history.do?action=tdihArticleCategory&displayDate=07/17&categoryId=disaster

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

National Fire Protection Association. Key Dates in Fire History. 1996. Accessed 2010 at: http://www.nfpa.org/itemDetail.asp?categoryID=1352&itemID=30955&URL=Research%20&%20Reports/Fire%20statistics/Key%20dates%20in%20fire%20history&cookie%5Ftest=1

National Fire Protection Association. Spreadsheet of 10+ Fatality Fires, as of 3-15-2013. Email attachment to Wayne Blanchard.

National Fire Protection Association (John Hall, Jr.). U.S. Unintentional Fire Death Rates by State. Quincy, MA: NFPA, 31 pages, December 2008.

National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior. Port Chicago Naval Magazine National Memorial (webpage). Accessed 5-17-2020 at: https://www.nps.gov/poch/index.htm

Oakland Tribune, CA. “300 Die in Bay Arms Ship Blast. Port Chicago Razed by 2-Ship Explosion.” 7-18-1944, pp. 1-2. http://newspaperarchive.com/fullpagepdfviewer?img=33943639&sterm

Oakland Tribune, CA. “Pittsburg Hit Hard by Blast.” 7-18-1944, p. 2. Accessed at: http://newspaperarchive.com/fullpagepdfviewer?img=33498545&sterm=port+chicago

United States Department of the Navy, Naval Historical Center. See “Casualties: US Navy and Marine Corps Personnel Killed and Injured in Selected Accidents and Other Incidents Not Directly the Result of Enemy Action.” Washington, DC: Washington Navy Yard. Accessed at: http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/NHC/accidents.htm

20th Century

1944 — July 11, USAAF A-26 crash into Westbrook Trailer Park, fire, So. Portland, ME–19

lornajarrettblanchard July 11, 1944

Compiled by Wayne Blanchard; last edit 3-26-2024 for upload to: http://www.usdeadlyevents.com/

–19 Biddeford Daily Journal, ME. “Maine Matters…Another Victim.” 8-7-1944, p. 4.

–19 Maine.gov. Maine State Police web site. “Maine State Police History.”

–19 Portland Press Herald. “Redbank 1944 Air Crash Memorial Selected,” April 2, 2009.

–18 Mireles 2006. Fatal Army AF Aviation Accidents…US…, V2, July 1943-July 1944, p. 851.

–17 Lowell Sun (MA). “Plane Tragedy Toll Hits 17,” July 13, 1944.

–17 NFPA. “Fires Causing Large Loss of Life.” Handbook of Fire Protection (11^th Ed.). 1954

–17 NFPA. “Plane Crash Fire Kills Seventeen.” Quarterly of the NFPA, V. 38, N. 1, July 1944.

–16 Valley Morning Star (TX). “Identification of Fire Dead Completed,” July 14, 1944, p. 12.

–15 Dunkirk Evening Observer. “15 Killed When Bomber Crashes In Trailer Camp,” 7-12-1944

Narrative Information

Maine.gov: “A US Army bomber crashes into a trailer park in South Portland killing two crewmen and 17 persons on the ground. It is the worst plane crash in Maine history and troopers are among those called to the scene.” (Maine.gov. Maine State Police web site. “Maine State Police History.”)

Mireles: “At 1642 EWT, a Douglas A-26B flying in very poor visibility crashed into a trailer park at Portland, Maine, killing pilot 2Lt. Philip I. Russell and engineer SSgt. Wallace Mifflin. Sixteen civilians were killed on the ground and 18 were seriously injured. Four civilians received minor injuries.

“The airplane had taken off very early in the clay from Barksdale Field, Shreveport, Louisiana, on a cross-country flight to Portland, Maine, via Bradley Field, Windsor Locks, Connecticut. The pilot had not been cleared for instrument flight. Apparently the A-26B had attempted to land at Portland Municipal Airport even though the airport was closed down at 1635 EWT due to poor visibility. Heavy fog and low-lying clouds prevailed at the destination airport at the time. Investigation revealed that the pilot was apparently issued an improper clearance to land from unauthorized personnel at the Portland Radio Range Station. The A-26B arrived at the airport from the south, flying parallel to the North/South Runway on the west side. The airplane then disappeared into the fog and apparently made a left turn, returning to the field flying to the southeast, paralleling the Southeast/Northwest Runway on its northeastern edge. While flying to the southeast at the southeast end of the airport at approximately 200 feet agl, the A-26B was seen to enter a vertical bank to the right just before entering a bank of thick fog. Moments later the airplane was heard to crash into the Westbrook Trailer Colony at 310 Westbrook Street. The airplane struck the terrain on its starboard wing and cartwheeled into 12 occupied trailer residences, exploding violently into flames upon impact. Several juveniles were among the dead and injured. The pilot’s parents, wife and new baby were present at the airport, waiting for him to land. Seventeen trailers were damaged or destroyed.” (Mireles 2006, 852.)

National Fire Protection Assoc. “Plane Crash Fire Kills Seventeen.” Quarterly, 38/1, July 1944:

“Seventeen persons, including five children, lost their lives and many others were injured when an army bomber crashed in the midst of the Westbrook Trailer Camp at South Portland, Maine, on July 11, 1944. The two men in the plane were among the victims. More than 300 persons, mostly women and children, were in the camp at the time, were thrown into a panic by the crash, explosion and fierce fire that demolished the flimsy ‘trailers.’ The plane, a twin-engine job designated as an A-26b attack bomber, with a fuel capacity of approximately 400 gallons, was unable to land at the near-by airport because of fog. For reasons undisclosed, the plane struck the ground just outside the camp, bounced high into the air, exploded and crashed again among the trailers, spreading death and destruction as flaming gasoline and oil showered the immediate neighborhood. The plane had refueled earlier in the day in Connecticut so it is probable that only a fraction of the total gasoline capacity remained in the tanks.

“The ‘trailer’ camp, owned and operated by the Federal Public Housing Authority, provided living quarters for shipyard workers and their families. It consisted of 100 plywood ‘trailer’ units, each mounted on a foundation of posts or blocks and arranged in a staggered fashion, with an average interval of about 12 to 15 feet between trailers. The camp was divided by three roadways, each forty feet in width and these were instrumental in confining the fire. Each trailer is heated by two kerosene burners located on either side of the entrance doorway, the fuel supply for which is contained in 50-gallon drums supported just outside on wooden ‘horses.’ Each trailer is equipped also with a gasoline stove for cooking. It is reported that the kerosene and gasoline supply for the trailers, ignited by the crashed plane, added to the intensity of the fire.

….

“The camp considered itself exempt from all municipal regulations for the safety of trailer camps and was operated without benefit of permits for flammable liquids or other hazards.

“There was no connection to the public fire alarm system in the camp area, but the alarm was sounded from the near-by Red Bank Village housing development. The South Portland Fire Department responded immediately and attacked the fire with hose lines supplied from public hydrants located outside the camp site….

“Eighteen trailer units, valued at $2500 each, were destroyed before the fire was finally extinguished. Several additional units were damaged. Many of the trailers were involved as a result of actual contact with the crashed plane, its parts, or showering fuel. Also destroyed was a general laundry house valued at $10,000. Preliminary estimates as reported in the newpapers plance the damage at $100,000.”

Portland Press Herald, 4-2-2009: “South Portland – The Long Creek Air Tragedy Memorial Committee has announced the winning bid for its monument design. The memorial will stand on Westbrook Street across from the scene of the disaster of July 11, 1944, when a twin-engine light-attack bomber piloted by Army Air Corps Lt. Philip ‘’Phee’’ Russell crashed into a trailer camp in the Long Creek area. An explosion leveled 18 trailers, and flames engulfed the area. Russell and 18 other people died, most of them young mothers and small children. Many others were left injured or homeless.” (Portland Press Herald. “Redbank 1944 Air Crash Memorial Selected,” April 2, 2009.)

Newspapers at the Time

July 12: “South Portland, Md., July 12 – (UP) – Army and civilian authorities investigated today the crash of a two-motor army training bomber which fell in flames yesterday in a war workers’ trailer camp, killing 15 persons, injuring and burning many others and destroying 20 trailers. The bodies of eight adults and three children were extricated from the ruins and four person, including two children, died at hospitals of burns. Rescue work was hampered by an electrical storm which broke immediately after the crash….The accident occurred at the Westbrook trailer colony….Witnesses said the plane appeared to be trying to make an emergency landing. It circled the trailer camp twice, losing altitude on the second round and finally crashing into one of the trailers, trapping the occupants as it burst into flames. The blaze spread rapidly. Screams of women and children trapped in the vehicles mingled with the rumble of thunder and crackle of lightning as rescue workers risked their lives in an effort to free the victims….Major William Cloney of the first service command said the plane had left Barksdale Field, La., early yesterday on a routine flight. He said it had stopped at Bradley field in Windsor locks, Conn., for fuel only a few hours before the crash.” (Dunkirk Evening Observer, NY. July 12, 1944.)

July 14: “South Portland, Me. – (AP) – Identification of the 16 charred and twisted bodies of those who died in the plunge of an Army plane into the Westbrook trailer camp near the Portland Airport Tuesday was completed Thursday. Twelve of the 25 person injured are still in the Maine General Hospital….Soldiers dug all day through debris to determine if any bodies remained buried.” (Valley Morning Star, TX. “Identification of Fire Dead Completed,” 7-14-1944, p. 12.)

July 13: “South Portland, Me. – July 13 (INS) – The toll of dead in the crash of a light army bomber in the Westbrook trailer camp rose to 17 today with the death this morning of…[one of the injured]. She succumbed at Maine General hospital. Her 9-month-old son, George, Jr., died in the crash that destroyed 21 trailer homes Tuesday, and her daughter…3, is recovering from burns at the hospital. Identification of the charred bodies, six of them children, has been completed. The FBI and the army are investigating the air accident, the worst in Maine’s history.” (Lowell Sun)

Aug 7: “The July 11 plane crash into a trailer camp at South Portland claimed its 19^th victim yesterday when Mrs. Shirley May Brown, 34, of South Portland, died in Maine General hospital, Portland, of burns on the face and body.” (Biddeford Daily Journal, ME. “Maine Matters… Another Victim.” 8-7-1944, p. 4.)

Aug 10: “Investigation into Maine’s housing projects and colonies by the Attorney General’s office has resulted in the appointment of Attorney William H. Niehoff by Attorney General Frank I. Cowan as liaison officer between the State and Federal Government, Mr. Cowan said Thursday. ‘The laws for the health and security of the public must be complied with even in places operating under economic emergencies,’ the attorney general said, adding that the investigation made by his department showed ‘ample reason’ for putting someone on the job.

“Mr. Niehoff, who is also an assistant attorney general as counsel for the Liquor Commission, will leave for Washington, D.C., ‘shortly’ to confer with the Federal officials connected with housing conditions in this State Attorney General Cowan said.

“Prompting the investigation into Maine’s housing projects and colonies was the ‘appalling list of casualties’ resulting from the July 11 crash of a bomber into a South Portland trailer colony. ‘It is the opinion of the Attorney General’s Department,’ Mr. Cowan said, ‘that had the Westbrook Street trailers at South Portland been properly spaced and properly constructed, and had ordinary health and fire rules been observed, many of those who burned to death July 11, when a bomber crashed into the colony, would have survived.’ Some of the projects have been built ‘without regard to health, fire or local building laws,’ the attorney general emphasized, adding that his report showed single exits were the rule rather than the exception and that in many instances oil leaked from barrels which had been placed on wooden horses outside the trailers….” (Daily Kennebec Journal, ME. “Niehoff Given Liaison Job For Gov’ Housing Safety After Probe.” 8-11-1944, pp. 1 and 10.)

Sources

Biddeford Daily Journal, ME. “Maine Matters…Another Victim.” 8-7-1944, p. 4. Accessed 3-26-2024 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/biddeford-daily-journal-aug-07-1944-p-4/

Daily Kennebec Journal, ME. “Niehoff Given Liaison Job For Gov’ Housing Safety After Probe.” 8-11-1944, pp. 1 and 10. Accessed 3-26-2024 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/daily-kennebec-journal-aug-11-1944-p-1/

Dunkirk Evening Observer, NY. “15 Killed When Bomber Crashes In Trailer Camp,” July 12, 1944. At: http://www.newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=36048853

Lowell Sun, MA. “Plane Tragedy Toll Hits 17,” July 13, 1944. Accessed at: http://www.newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=57655212

Maine.gov. Maine State Police web site. “Maine State Police History.” Accessed 5-5-2009 at: http://www.maine.gov/dps/msp/about/history.html

Mireles, Anthony J. Fatal Army Air Forces Aviation Accidents in the United States, 1941-1945 (Volume 2: July 1943 – July 1944). Jefferson, NC: McFarland and Co., 2006.

National Fire Protection Association. “Fires Causing Large Loss of Life.” Handbook of Fire Protection (11^th Ed.). Boston, MA: NFPA, 1954, pp. 33-36.

National Fire Protection Association. “Plane Crash Fire Kills Seventeen.” Quarterly of the National Fire Protection Association, Vol. 38, No. 1, July 1944.

Portland Press Herald, ME. “Redbank 1944 Air Crash Memorial Selected,” 4-2-2009. Accessed at: http://updates.mainetoday.com/updates/redbank-1944-air-crash-memorial-selected

Valley Morning Star, Harlingen, TX. “Identification of Fire Dead Completed,” July 14, 1944, p. 12. Accessed at: http://www.newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=16358510

20th Century

1944 – July 11, off-course USAAF B-17G crash, thunderstorm, Deer Mt. ~Rangeley, ME–10

lornajarrettblanchard July 11, 1944

Compiled by Wayne Blanchard; last edit 3-31-2024 for upload to: http://www.usdeadlyevents.com/

–10 AP. “Army Believes…Ten Killed in Maine Bomber Crash.” Biddeford Journal, MA. 7-14-1944, 1.

–10 Charleroi Mail, PA. “Begin Descent of Maine Mtns. With Airmen’s Bodies.” 7-17-1944, 4.

–10 Mireles 2006. Fatal Army AF Aviation Accidents…US…, V2, July 1943-July 1944, p. 854.

— 9 Baugher. 1943 USAAF Serial Numbers (43-5109 to 43-52437). 11-7-2011 rev.

Narrative Information

Baugher: “Boeing B-17G-75-BO Fortress….38023 crashed into Deer Mountain, Cupsuptic, ME July 11, 19944. All 9 aboard killed.” (Baugher. 1943 USAAF Serial Numbers (43-5109 to 43-52437). 11-7-2011 revision.)

Mireles: “At 1330 EWT, a Boeing B-17G flying in thunderstorms and poor visibility collided with 3,455-foot Deer Mountain near Rangeley, Maine, killing the crew of ten. The B-17 had taken off from Kearney, Nebraska, on a routine training flight to Bangor, Maine. The airplane was off course and apparently lost. Witnesses on the ground stated that the airplane had circled the Rangeley area for an hour and a half before disappearing into the clouds. The airplane never arrived at Bangor and a search was commenced. The airplane was spotted from the air on 7-13-44 at about 1630 EWT. Because of difficult terrain, investigators did not reach the wreck site until 7-15-44. The airplane smashed into the mountain approximately 500 feet from the peak in a 70-degree bank to the left with all four engines producing power. Wreckage was scattered over an area of 800 feet. Investigators noted that severe thunderstorms were in the area and heavy clouds obscured mountain at the time of the crash.” (Mireles 2006, p. 854.)

Newspapers

July 13: “Army Air Base, Kearney, Neb., July 13. – Ten crew members of a B-17 bomber, who left Kearney Monday night for the east have not been heard from since early Tuesday, Lt. Col. Cornelius W. Cousland, base commander, said today.” (The Altoona Mirror, PA. “Air Crew Missing.” 7-13-1944, p. 10.)

July 14, AP: “Manchester, N.H., July 14. – (AP) – An Army search and rescue squad hacked its way through dense woods today toward the wreckage of a B-17 Flying Fortress on a hill north of the Rangeley Lakes in Maine. Fragments of the bomber were spotted from the air yesterday after an extensive search by 109 Army and Civil Air Patrol planes and an undisclosed number of Navy and Royal Canadian Air Force craft. Wreckage first was seen by an observation plane from Grenier field, Manchester, N.H., and Army authorities said it seemed ‘almost impossible that anybody survived the crash.’ Planes of this type carry a crew of 10 men.

“Army officials said the bomber reported in at Syracuse, N.Y., at 10:10 a.m., Tuesday en route for Dow Field at Bangor, Me. It communicated by radio with Grenier Field at 11:55 a.m., and then was not heard from again.

“Major Norman Vaughn, in command of a search and rescue section based at Presque Isle, Me., flew over the wreckage late yesterday and mapped out a route for the rescue party. The Army listed the 10-man crew of the bomber as ‘missing.’” (Associated Press. “Army Believes Crew of Ten Killed in Maine Bomber Crash.” Biddeford Daily Journal, MA. 7-14-1944, p. 1.)

July 17, United Press: “Rangeley, Me., July 17 – (UP) – Rescue parties began the descent of heavily-wooded Deer Mountain with the bodies of the 10 crew members of a B-17 Fortress which crashed on the northern ridge of the peak, presumably on Tuesday afternoon [July 11]. The rescue parties, under direction of Maj. Norman Vaughn, reached the scene of the crash after a daylong trek through the dense underbrush. They found the wreckage of the plane and remains of the victims scattered over a wide area.” (Charleroi Mail, PA. “Begin Descent of Maine Mtns. With Airmen’s Bodies.” 7-17-1944, p. 4.)

Sources

Associated Press. “Army Believes Crew of Ten Killed in Maine Bomber Crash.” Biddeford Daily Journal, MA. 7-14-1944, p. 1. Accessed 3-31-2024 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/biddeford-daily-journal-jul-14-1944-p-1/

Baugher, Joseph F. 1943 USAAF Serial Numbers (43-5109 to 43-52437). Nov 7, 2011 revision. Accessed 12-18-2011 at: http://www.joebaugher.com/usaf_serials/1943_2.html

Charleroi Mail, PA. “Begin Descent of Maine Mountains with Airmen’s Bodies.” 7-17-1944, 4. Accessed at: http://www.newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=25230311

Mireles, Anthony J. Fatal Army Air Forces Aviation Accidents in the United States, 1941-1945 (Volume 2: July 1943 – July 1944). Jefferson, NC: McFarland and Co., 2006.

The Altoona Mirror, PA. “Air Crew Missing.” 7-13-1944, p. 10. Accessed 3-31-2024 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/altoona-mirror-jul-13-1944-p-10/

20th Century

1944 — July 6, troop train derails, high speed/sharp curve, into Clear River, High Cliff, TN–35

lornajarrettblanchard July 6, 1944

Compiled by Wayne Blanchard; last edit 4-1-2024 for upload to: http://www.usdeadlyevents.com/

— 35 AP. “Troop Train Wreck Toll…at 35 Dead.” Washington C.H. Record-Herald, OH. 7-14-1944, p.1

— 35 Interstate Commerce Commission. Investigation No. 2812…Near High Cliff, Tenn…July 6, 1944.

— 35 Wikipedia. “List of Rail Accidents (Pre-1950).”

— 34 Coggins. Tennessee Tragedies: Natural, Technological, and Societal Disasters… 2011.

Narrative Information

Coggins: “High Cliff Train Wreck Near Jellico (Campbell County), July 6, 1944”:

A southbound Louisville-Nashville passenger train designated as ‘Troop Train Number 47’ derailed at around 9:00 pm on July 6, 1944. This incident killed thirty-four and injured at least another hundred. The wreck occurred near the mountain community of High Cliff, about three miles east of Jellico and south of the Tennessee-Kentucky state line. The exact location of the derailment was at the northern entrance to a mountain pass known as the ‘Jellico Narrows.’ After emerging from that gorge and a long straight stretch of track, the train entered a curve where the locomotive and four cars plunged into the deep gorge of clear Fork Creek, some fifty feet below. Four additional cars derailed but did not fall into the stream….”

Interstate Commerce Commission. Report…Accident Near High Cliff, Tenn…July 6, 1944:

Summary

“Railroad: Louisville & Nashville

“Date: July 6, 1944

“Location: High Cliff, Tenn.

“Kind of accident: Derailment

“Train involved: Passenger

“Train number: 47

“Engine number: 418

“Consist: 16 cars

“Estimated Speed: 45 m.p.h.

“Operation: Timetable, train orders and automatic block-signal and automatic train-

control system

“Track: Single; 11⁰15’ curve; 0.69 percent ascending grade southward

“Weather: Clear

“Time: 9:05 p.m.

“Casualties: 35 killed; 98 injured

“Cause: Combination of wide gage of track and excessive speed on sharp curve.”

[Speed was 35 mph and upward slant of track was too high.]

Report of the Commission

“On July 6, 1944, there was a derailment of a passenger train on the Louisville & Nashville Railroad near High Cliff, Tenn., which resulted in the death of 33 passengers and 2 train-service employees and the injury of 93 passengers, 3 Pullman employees and 2 train-service employees.

Wikipedia: “July 6, 1944 – Troop train crash near Jellico, Tennessee, United States: Passenger train derails due to excessive speed on defective track. 35 killed, 99 injured; all soldiers in U.S. Army en route to deployment.” (Wikipedia. “List of Rail Accidents (Pre-1950).”)

Newspapers

July 7, AP: “Jellico, Tenn. – (AP) – At least 17 persons, all but two of them soldiers, were killed last night when a troop train plunged into a 50-foot gorge of the Clear River 11 miles South of here. Dr. E. P. Muncy, resident physician of Knoxville’s General Hospital, said the death toll probably would exceed 40.

“The locomotive and four cars were piled at the ravine’s bottom, and a fifth hung over the precipitous edge, where it left the Louisville and Nashville railroad tracks.

“One soldier, identified by Army Public Relations as Pvt. Leonard Battag of Evanston, Ill., was still pinned in the bottom of a wrecked car 12 hours after the crash, with four dead men piled on him. He regained consciousness and talked with rescuers as acetylene torches cut through twisted steel nearby. The youth, in the Army only 13 days, asked a doctor if he was in a plane. ‘It sure looks like it,’ he said. ‘This is a lot better hole than on that train.’ He is the son of Mr. and Mrs. Frank Battag of Evanston.

By noon six bodies had been brought to the government hospital at Oak Ridge, Tenn., and eight other bodies were reported on the way there. Army authorities at the hospital said that they had admitted 30 injury cases and had at least four more on the way and there were nine additional cases of soldiers given first aid treatment but not requiring hospitalization. A partial death list released by the Army included the following enlisted men, with serial numbers but with home addresses still not known:

Donald J. Clark…

Willian M. Gorey…

Dale Mattix…

H. McChesney…

“Work of extricating the victims from the locomotive and five cars which tumbled down the steep 50-foot bank to the shallow stream was slow and unofficial estimate placed the casualties as high as 25 dead and 250 hurt.

“The train was a special carrying only soldiers and the train crew.

“An emergency train made up from the twelve cars which did not leave the track left this morning taking fifty of the injured to Lake City, Tenn., enroute to the government hospital at Oak Ridge, Tenn., and at least thirty other injured service men were sent to Oak Ridge Hospital in ambulances….

“The kitchen and baggage cars of the southbound train, reported carrying more than 1,000 soldiers just out of basic training, were burned.

“Express Agent C. L. Alley of Jellico said first rescues were made by nearby mountainfolk who tediously hoisted the injured by block and tackle slings up the shrubbery-lined gorge. Waiting ambulances rushed the injured to hospitals in Lake City, LaFollette and Jellico, and Corbin and Williamsburg, Ky.

“Rescuers worked doggedly early today to free two soldiers trapped in one of the smashed coaches. Doctors gave blood plasma transfusions to one of them, pinned down in the gorge wreckage. Two others who had been trapped were extricated, one of them dead.

“The fireman, identified at a Jellico hospital as J. W. Tummins, of Etowah, died in the institution several hours after he was hurled free of the wreckage….

“A soldier, treated at Jellico Hospital, whose name was withheld, said the crash occurred ‘just after we finished dhow,’ and said he thought the fire started in the train kitchen. ‘I was in an upper berth,’ he said, ‘and was almost thrown out when we went around a curve. Just a moment later she banged off the track.’ ….

“The engineer, identified by the railroad as John C. Rollins, of Etowah, Tenn., was ‘somewhere beneath his engine,’ Yarbrough said and the fireman was picked up from the spot to which he was hurled and brought to Jellico hospital….

“In this Cumberland Mountain section on the Kentucky-Tennessee line, the L. and N. tracks traverse numerous trestles over deep gorges and loop around hairpin turns.

“Ten Army doctors and 12 Army ambulances were rushed to the scene from Clinton. They carried ample supplies of blood plasma.

“Express Agent Alley, who said the train carried 1,000 soldiers, reported early today the cars remaining upright had been switched to another track and were proceeding to their destination.”

(Associated Press. “17 Killed In Troop Train Wreck.” Kingsport Times, TN. 7-7-1944, p. 1 & 8.)

July 9, AP: “Jellico, Tenn. – AP – The death toll from the plunge of a troop train into a deep gorge of nearby Clear River Thursday night mounted to at least 33 Saturday night as workmen laboriously cleared the wreckage. The Army announced that the bodies of 25 soldiers had been found and Police Chief Hubert Perkins said that six other bodies were recovered during the afternoon. The fireman and the engineer of the train also perished.

“As two giant cranes swung their cables into the rocky gorge and tugged at the last demolished car, workers said they believed at least two more bodies would be found. A spokesman for the Louisville and Nashville Railroad said it might be late Sunday before all wreckage was cleared from the 50-foot defile, where a locomotive and four cars plunged after derailment. A fifth car left the tracks but hung on the steep bank.

“While railway representatives and the Federal Bureau of Investiagation sought probable cause of the crash, 61 injured soldiers were sent by the Army to Moore General Hospital, near Asheville, N.C. Twenty others were listed as first-aid cases. Ten were left at the Oak Ridge Army Hospital, near Knoxville, because of injuries too serious to permit movement. One was in critical condition. He was identified by the Army as Austin Taunier…of Louisville, Ohio.

“The Army proceeded slowly with a list of dead and injured, and public relations officers said it might be Sunday before the compilation was announced.

“J. E. Lockhart, division engineer for the Louisville and Nashville Railroad, said no defects had been found in the tracks and added there was no evidence of sabotage….” (Associated Press. “Death Toll in Troop Train Wreck Reaches 33.” Kingsport Times, TN. 7-9-1944, p.1.)

July 10, AP: “Jellico, Tenn. – AP – The list of identified dead in Thursday night’s wreck of a troop train in a gorge of nearby Clear River rose of 32 today. Police Chief Hubert Perkins said yesterday another body had been found but that it had not been identified. The names and addresses of five more of the soldier dead were announced by Army authorities as:

William R. Cathey, 1209 Hampton Ave., Paduch, Ky.;

Raymond W. Yopp, RFD 5, Paducah, Ky.;

Herbert R. Reichle, 448 Union St., Bedford, Ohio;

John R. Wisberger, 1087 Packard Drive, Akron, Ohio, and

Ray Wood, Jr., RFD 3, Kevil, Ky.

“The cause of the wreck, which killed at least 30 soldiers and two of the train’s crew, has not been determined…” (Associated Press. “32 Known Dead In Wreck of Train at Jellico.” Kingsport Times, TN. 7-10-1944, p. 1.)

July 11, AP: “Jellico, Tenn. – AP – The death toll in the wreck of a troop train last Thursday in a narrow Cumberland mountain gorge reached 33 today with the discovery of a mangled body under the wreckage. ‘We are not even sure he is an Army man, although it is probable he is,’ an Army spokesman said. The body was found yesterday when a smashed coach was raised by a wrecker from the gorge. Thirty soldiers and the engineer and fireman were killed and 91 were injured in the wreck.” (Assoc. Press. “Another Body Found at Jellico.” Kingsport Times, TN. 7-11-1944, 5.)

July 12, AP: “Jellico, Tenn. – AP – The death toll from a troop train wreck in Narrows Gorge near here Thursday night rose to 34 today with the Army announcement of the death of Pvt. Ray W. Parker of Trenton, O. Parker’s death in Oak Ridge Hospital was the 31^st announced fatality among Army enlisted personnel, the engineer and fireman of the Louisville and Nashville train, and one yet unidentified body completing the list.

“The & N office here said investigation of the cause of the wreck was continuing but that not conclusions had been reached. The Federal Bureau of Investigation previously said there was no evidence of sabotage.” (Associated Press. “34^th Person Dies as Result of Wreck at Jellico.” Kingsport Times, TN. 7-12-1944, p. 8.)

July 13, AP: “Jellico, Tenn. – AP – Army authorities today identified the 34^th and last known casualty of a troop train wreck near here last Thursday night. The man was listed as Pvt. Donald E. Hill, RFD 5, North Canton, O. Of the casualties 32 were Army enlisted personnel, the engineer and fireman of the Louisville and Nashville train completing the list. Some 91 persons were injured.

“The L & N office here said the engine had been raised from the bottom of the gorge but that an investigation of the cause of the wreck had not been completed.” (Associated Press. “Last Casualty of Jellico Wreck Identified.” Kingsport Times, TN. 7-13-1944, p. 11.)

July 14, AP: “Jellico, Tenn., July 14. – (AP) – The death of an army private in Oak Ridge Hospital brought to 35 the number of dead in a troop train wreck near here July 6. Army officers today listed the man, the 33^rd casualty among army enlisted personnel, as Austin E. Paunier, Louisville, O. He was the last man in a critical condition when hospitalized, the army spokesman said.”

(Associated Press. “Troop Train Wreck Toll Now Stands at 35 Dead.” Washington C.H. Record-Herald, Washington Court House, OH. 7-14-1944, p. 1.)

Sources

Associated Press. “17 Killed In Troop Train Wreck.” Kingsport Times, TN. 7-7-1944, p. 1. Accessed 4-1-2024 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/kingsport-times-jul-07-1944-p-1/

Associated Press. “32 Known Dead In Wreck of Train at Jellico.” Kingsport Times, TN. 7-10-1944, p. 1. Accessed 4-1-2024 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/kingsport-times-jul-10-1944-p-1/

Associated Press. “34^th Person Dies as Result of Wreck at Jellico.” Kingsport Times, TN. 7-12-1944, p. 8. Accessed 4-1-2024 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/kingsport-times-jul-12-1944-p-8/

Associated Press. “Another Body Found at Jellico.” Kingsport Times, TN. 7-11-1944, p. 5. Accessed 4-1-2024 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/kingsport-times-jul-11-1944-p-5/

Associated Press. “Death Toll in Troop Train Wreck Reaches 33.” Kingsport Times, TN. 7-9-1944, p.1. Accessed 4-1-2024 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/kingsport-times-jul-09-1944-p-1/

Associated Press. “Last Casualty of Jellico Wreck Identified.” Kingsport Times, TN. 7-13-1944, p. 11. Accessed 4-1-2024 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/kingsport-times-jul-13-1944-p-11/

Coggins, Allen R. Tennessee Tragedies: Natural, Technological, and Societal Disasters in the Volunteer State. University of Tennessee Press, 2011, pp. 169-171.

Interstate Commerce Commission. Investigation No. 2812. The Louisville & Nashville Railroad Company. Report in re Accident Near High Cliff, Tenn…July 6, 1944. Washington, DC: ICC, 8-22-1944. Accessed 4-102024 at: https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/pdfjs/web/viewer.html?file=https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/45629/dot_45629_DS1.pdf

Wikipedia. “List of Rail Accidents (Pre-1950).” Accessed 3-31-2024 at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_rail_accidents_(1940%E2%80%931949)#1944

20th Century

1944 — July 6, Ringling Broth./Barnum & Baily Circus tent fire/stampede, Hartford CT–168-169

lornajarrettblanchard July 6, 1944

—<200 Lohr. “Hartford Circus Fire: A 67-Year-old Mystery.” 11-29-2011. “Nearly 200.” --<170 Connecticuthistory.org. “The Hartford Circus Fire.” 7-6-2019. --<170 Lohr, David. “Hartford Circus Fire: A 67-Year-old Mystery.” 11-29-2011. “Some 170.” -- 169 Chertkoff & Kushigian. “Hartford Circus Fire, July 6, 1944,” Chap. 5, Don’t Panic. 1999, p. 54. --“About two-thirds of the dead were children.” --“Of the remainder, most were women.” -- 169 Nat. Fire Protection Assoc. Spreadsheet on Large Loss of Life Fires (as of Feb 2003). -- 168 Circusfire1944.com. “The Hartford Circus Fire July 6, 1944.” -- 168 Cornell, James. The Great International Disaster Book (Third Edition). 1982, p. 332. -- 168 Grant. “The Hartford Circus Fire 1944.” Connecticut Disasters. 2006, p. 123. -- 168 Hartford Fire Department, CT. “Major Fires.” -- 168 Massey and Davey. A Matter of Degree: The Hartford Circus Fire… 2001. -- 168 National Fire Protection Association. Key Dates in Fire History. 1996. -- 168 NFPA. U.S. Unintentional Fire Death Rates By State.” December 2008, p. 21. -- 168 Tucson Daily Citizen, AZ. “Seven Circus Men Held For Hartford Fire,” 1-13-1945, 3. -- 167 NPR. “Remembering the Horror and Heroes of a Circus Fire.” 7-6-2007. -- 167 Publishers Weekly 2000. -- 163 Kimball. “Hartford Circus Holocaust.” Quarterly of the NFPA, V38, N1, July 1944, p.9. -- 163 NFPA. “The Next Holocaust?” Quarterly of the NFPA, Vol. 38, No. 1, July 1944. Narrative Information NPR: “Sixty-three years ago today, one of the deadliest fires in the nation's history struck the circus in Hartford, Conn. Nearly 9,000 people had crowded into the big top that day. “Shortly after the show began, the tent caught fire. It was waterproofed with a mixture of gasoline and wax, causing the tent to be completely consumed in less than 10 minutes. “The fire claimed 167 lives — more than one-third of them children. Maureen Krekian, who was 11 at the time, survived the disaster and recounts the day's harrowing events. “July 6, 1944, was a very hot day. Krekian was supposed to go to the circus with the lady next door and her daughter. Krekian knocked on the door, but they had already left. "I had never been to the circus before, and there was no way that I was going to go home and tell my grandmother that I was alone," she says. "That would never have been permitted." So she ran off to the circus by herself. "I remember somebody yelling and seeing a big ball of fire near the top of the tent. And this ball of fire just got bigger and bigger and bigger. "By that time, everybody was panicking. The exit was blocked with the cages that the animals were brought in an out with. And there was a man taking kids and flinging them up and over that cage to get them out. "I was sitting up in the bleachers and jumped down -- I was three-quarters of the way up. You jump down and it was all straw underneath. "There was a young man, a kid, and he had a pocketknife. And he slit the tent, took my arm and pulled me out." “Krekian's uncle came running to try to find her but couldn't get anywhere near the scene. "I came running out from the circus tent all the way home. I can still see my uncle. He was so mad. You know how you get when you have a child and you think they're lost, and you want to kill them and kiss them at the same time." “The circus didn't return to Hartford until the 1970s, Krekian says, but she never had a desire to go….” (NPR. “Remembering the Horror and Heroes of a Circus Fire.” 7-6-2007.) Hooper: “…charges of involuntary manslaughter were brought against a group of circus employees, who were found guilty.” (Hooper, Brad. Booklist, American Library Association) Kirkus Reviews: “The resulting bad publicity (and nearly $5 million in civil judgments) not only pushed Ringling Brothers Barnum & Bailey's into receivership, it eventually forced the Greatest Show on Earth to discard its sideshow and abandon the outdoor big top for the gloomy (but fireproof) confines of concrete sports arenas.” (Kirkus Reviews, Kirkus Associates, 2000) Lohr: “Real life mysteries can be enthralling, but unlike Hollywood, some are never resolved. It is those mysteries, however, that cause intrigue and bring out the arm chair detective in all of us. Such is the case of one of the worst fire disasters in the history of the United States that occurred in Connecticut during a performance of Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus. “Nearly 200 people, mostly women and children, lost their lives during the inferno and ensuing chaos. Hundreds of others were badly burned or seriously injured. Officials initially deemed the fire a tragic accident -- but was it? “Six years later, a young Ohio man admitted not only to starting the fire but also to his involvement in the murder of four people. “The circus fire, which has been a source of controversy for more than 60 years, occurred in Hartford on the afternoon of July 6, 1944. Records from the time period show that it was a miserably hot day, but the conditions were apparently not sufficient enough to deter crowds of people from attending the circus. Nearly 8,000 people gathered inside the 500-foot-long big top, situated in a field on Barbour St. All were anxious to see the matinee show, which included performances by lion tamers, clowns and trapeze artists. “The Great Wallendas, a group of daredevil stunt performers, were roughly 20 minutes into their performance when circus bandleader Merle Evans spotted flames crawling up the southwest sidewall toward the roof of the tent. Instinctively, Evans directed the band to play "Stars and Stripes Forever," a tune circus personnel had been taught to recognize as a universal distress signal. “Upon hearing the tune, ringmaster Fred Bradna attempted to address the crowd; however, his warnings fell upon deaf ears, and 100-ft. flames were rapidly feeding on the tent's outer layers. "I remember somebody yelling and seeing a big ball of fire near the top of the tent," survivor Maureen Krekian, 74, recounted in a 2007 interview with National Public Radio. Krekian was just 11 years old when the fire occurred. "By that time, everybody was panicking," Krekian continued. "The exit was blocked with the cages that the animals were brought in and out with. ... There was a young man, a kid, and he had a pocketknife. And he slit the tent, took my arm and pulled me out." “Krekian was one of the lucky ones. Others were burned alive, trampled in the chaos or asphyxiated by toxic smoke. The remaining circus-goers were killed when the 19-ton big top came crashing down, roughly 10 minutes after the fire began. “In the aftermath, the bodies of some 170 people were found inside the ruins of the tent. The exact number of causalities is not known, and a handful has never been identified. Of those who survived, nearly 700 were injured. “One of the victims authorities have yet to positively identify is a young blonde girl known only as "Little Miss 1565", named after the number assigned to her at the city morgue. Her identity has been the subject of controversy since the day of the fire. Some believe the young girl is 6-year-old Sarah Graham. Others believe she was Eleanor Emily Cook, a young girl from Massachusetts. A 2005 investigation by the Connecticut State Police Forensic Science Lab is still open. “The tragedy was not lost on later generations. "My mother was 15 at the time and had a ticket to the circus that day. A native of Chicopee, Mass., she and a friend were visiting her aunt in Hartford," Anne-Marie Welsh, an Erie, Pa. native, told The Huffington Post. "The day was so brutally hot they decided not to attend at the last minute. You can imagine the horror my grandparents lived through trying to get in touch when they heard about the fire. It took about four hours before they were able to connect by phone. Tough story, one that always makes me grateful my mom was spared." “Officials deemed the fire a tragic accident, resulting from a carelessly discarded cigarette. The day afterwards, five of Ringling Bros. owners were charged with involuntary manslaughter. Four were later convicted, but they were eventually pardoned. In the interim, Ringling Bros. paid out nearly $5,000,000 in financial damages. “Roughly six years after the fire, in May 1950, Robert Dale Segee, a 21-year-old resident of Circleville, Ohio, was questioned by police after a friend of his was picked up for setting a small fire. Segee admitted to setting the Ringling Bros. circus fire in Hartford and confessed to committing more than two dozen arsons in Maine, New Hampshire and Ohio. Arson, however, was just one aspect of his alleged crimes. Segee also told police he had murdered four people, including a 9-year-old girl whom he said he beat to death with a stone. “According to the June 30, 1950, edition of The Milwaukee Journal, Segee told police that for years he had been "haunted by strange fiery dreams which sometimes drove him to crime." Segee provided authorities with details and sketches of his alleged crimes, but authorities were unable to conclude whether his confessions were valid. Doctors who examined him said he suffered from mental illness, and he later recanted his confessions. In the end, he was indicted in only two arson fires, for which a grand jury sentenced him to more than 40 years of prison. “In 1993, state fire marshal investigators reopened the investigation into the circus fire, and detectives re-interviewed Segee, then 63. "We confronted him with his statement [about the circus fire] and he said, 'Yeah, I did say that. But at the time I said it, I was nuts.' He denied it [setting the fire] emphatically," Sgt. James Butterworth told The Hartford Courant. Butterworth also said there was no evidence to either support or disprove Segee's 1950 confession. "I'm not convinced either way," Butterworth said. "There is no evidence that says this is an arson fire. There is no evidence to call the fire intentionally set." “Roughly four years later, in 1997, Segee died, taking whatever knowledge he may have had with him to the grave. Today, the cause of big top fire remains a mystery.” (Lohr, David. “Hartford Circus Fire: A 67-Year-old Mystery.” 11-29-2011.) Publishers Weekly: “As some 9,000 people watched the Wallendas begin their high-wire act on July 6, 1944, a fire started on the sidewall of the big top at the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus. The tent had been waterproofed with a mixture of 6,000 gallons of white gasoline and 18,000 pounds of paraffin; common practice for circuses at the time. In minutes, the entire tent was engulfed in flames. In the rush for the exits, people were trampled and burned--some beyond recognition. In the end, 167 were dead and 487 injured, of whom 140 required hospitalization. The city of Hartford, Connecticut, would never be the same. Stewart O'Nan brings his storytelling ability to the tragedy of The Circus Fire. ‘Several survivors said the one thing they will never forget about the circus fire as long as they live is the sound of the animals as they burned alive. But there were no animals’.” (Amazon.com Editorial Review) “On July 6, 1944, the big top of the Ringling Bros. circus caught fire during an afternoon performance in Hartford, Conn., and quickly burned to the ground. One hundred and sixty-seven people were killed -- most of them women and children -- and hundreds more wounded. One boy saved himself (and hundreds of others) by cutting a hole in the tent wall with his fishing knife. Another man literally threw children to safety before losing his footing and perishing in the blaze. Above them, the tent canvas, which had been waterproofed with gasoline and paraffin, "rained down like napalm" on the necks and shoulders of the fleeing crowd. By the end… the heat was so intense that people died not from smoke inhalation, as in most fires, but by being cooked alive.” (Publishers Weekly, Reed Information, Inc., 2000) Newspaper Jan 13, UP in Tucson Daily Citizen: “Hartford, Conn., Jan. 13. (U.P.)—Coroner Frank E. Healy yesterday held seven officials and employees of the Ringling Brothers Barnum and Bailey circus criminally , responsible for the fire which destroyed the big top July 6, killing 168 persons and injuring 682. “Issued after a six-month investigation, the official finding said the seven "are guilty of such wanton or reckless conduct, either of commission or of omission, where there is a duty to act, which makes them criminally responsible." Healy named the five circus officials who were arrested the day after the. fire and charged with manslaughter. They are Vice-President James A, Haley; General Manager George W. Smith; Boss Canvasman Leonard S. Aylesworth; Chief Electrician Edward R. Versteeg; Rolling Stock Supt. David W. Blanchfield. He also named William Caley and Samuel Clark, boss seatmen, who, he said, were supposed to have been on the lookout for fires but were absent from their posts. "The . evidence seems to show that the fire was caused by someone throwing a burning cigarette into the folds of the side wall canvass or on the ground," his report said. “The tent-had been treated with white gasoline and paraffin under the direction of Aylesworth to make it waterproof, and this created "an extra hazardous condition".” (Tucson Daily Citizen. “Seven Circus Men Held For Hartford Fire,” Jan 13, 1945, 3.) Sources Chertkoff, Jerome M. and Russell H. Kushigian. “Hartford Circus Fire, July 6, 1944,” Chapter 5 in: Don’t Panic: The Psychology of Emergency Egress. Praeger, 1999. Circusfire1944.com. “The Hartford Circus Fire July 6, 1944.” Accessed 11-30-2011 at: http://www.circusfire1944.com/ Connecticuthistory.org. “The Hartford Circus Fire.” 7-6-2019. Accessed 6-4-2020 at: https://connecticuthistory.org/the-hartford-circus-fire/ Cornell, James. The Great International Disaster Book (Third Edition). New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1982. Grant, Ellsworth S. “A Three-Ring Horror: The Hartford Circus Fire 1944.” Chapter 16, Connecticut Disasters: True Stories of Tragedy and Survival. Guilford, CT: Insiders’ Guide, an imprint of Globe Pequot Press, 2006. Hartford Fire Department. Major Fires. Hartford, CT. Accessed 5-5-2005 at: http://www.hartford.gov/fire/MajorFires/major_fires.htm Kimball, Warren Y. “Hartford Circus Holocaust.” Quarterly of the NFPA, Vol. 38, No. 1, July 1944, pp. 9-21. Lohr, David. “Hartford Circus Fire: A 67-Year-old Mystery.” 11-29-2011. Accessed 11-30-2011 at: http://www.aol.com:80/2011/11/29/hartford-circus-fire_n_1118389.html and https://www.huffpost.com/entry/hartford-circus-fire_n_1117392 Massey, Don and Rick Davey. A Matter of Degree: The Hartford Circus Fire and the Mystery of Little Miss 1565. Willow Brook Press. 2001. National Fire Protection Association. Key Dates in Fire History. 1996. Accessed 2010 at: http://www.nfpa.org/itemDetail.asp?categoryID=1352&itemID=30955&URL=Research%20&%20Reports/Fire%20statistics/Key%20dates%20in%20fire%20history&cookie%5Ftest=1 National Fire Protection Association. Spreadsheet on Large Loss of Life Fires (as of Feb 2003). (Email attachment to B. W. Blanchard from Jacob Ratliff, NFPA Archivist/Taxonomy Librarian, 7-8-2013.) National Fire Protection Association. “The Next Holocaust?” Quarterly of the NFPA, Vol. 38, No. 1, July 1944. National Fire Protection Association (John Hall, Jr.). U.S. Unintentional Fire Death Rates by State. Quincy, MA: NFPA, 31 pages, December 2008. NPR (National Public Radio). “Remembering the Horror and Heroes of a Circus Fire.” 7-6-2007. Accessed 11-30-2011 at: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=11768511 Tucson Daily Citizen, AZ. “Seven Circus Men Held For Hartford Fire.” 1-13-1945, p. 3. Accessed at: http://www.newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=85130580

20th Century

1944 — July 5, Powhatan No. 1 Coal Mine Fire, Powhatan Point, OH — 66

lornajarrettblanchard July 5, 1944

Compiled by Wayne Blanchard; last edit 4-1-2024 for upload to: http://www.usdeadlyevents.com/

–66 Bureau of Mines. Report of a Fire at Powhatan Mine, Powhatan Point, Ohio, July 5, 1944.

–66 Evening Independent (Massillon OH). “East Ohio Blast…Disaster,” Dec 28, 1944, p. 8.

–66 Keenan. Historical Documentation of Major Coal-Mine Disasters…[U.S.]…, 1963, p. 36.

[This is a reproduction of the Bureau of Mines report, noted above.]

–66 Lahmers. “Kaleidoscope: In old days, death common in mines. Akron Beacon Journal. 2008

–66 National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, CDC. Mine Disasters.

–66 OH Historical Society. “Powhatan Disaster, 1944.” Remarkable OH: Marking OH History.

Narrative Information

Bureau of Mines. Report of a Fire at Powhatan Mine, Powhatan Point, Ohio, July 5, 1944:

“A mine fire occurred sometime between noon and 1 p.m., July 5, 1944, on No.3 entry, C north face entries, near the slant to No. 3 right butt entries in the Powhatan mine.

“One hundred and ninety men were in the mine when the fire occurred. Sixty-six 6f these men were trapped inby the fire and were killed; 124 men escaped unassisted. Sixty of the sixty-six men

killed barricaded themselves in 7 right butt entries off C north face entries with stoppings constructed of boards, posts, screw-type roof jacks, coal, and clothing. One man began erection of a barricade in a crosscut in the chain pillar in 7 left butt entry off C north face entries. The remaining five men apparently attempted to get around the fire and were in part of the area which

was sealed. The seals were opened on June 9, 1945, and a great part of the area was explored. Three bodies were found and removed, but rekindling of material under a large fall made it advisable to reseal the area on June 15 and 16, 1945.

“The fire occurred when a timberman who was “scaling” roof caused a fall of roof coal and rock which pulled the trolley wire out of a trolley frog and allowed the wire to contact the track rail which ignited the coal. The timberman pushed the trolley wire off the rail and against the rib, and then traveled to a circuit breaker near the junction of main west entries and C north face entries, a distance of about 2,000 feet. The fire was confined to the C north face entries between 3 right butt entries and 5 right butt entries.

“This mine is opened by four shafts and six slopes: namely, two air shafts about 110 feet deep at Cats Run, Powhatan Point hoisting shaft about 147 feet deep, Big Run shaft about 110 feet deep, a slope at 24 right entry off west main entry, Cats Run slope, a slope at the face of B north entry, a slope at the face of C north entry, a slope at Powhatan Point, and a slope at 16 north off west main entries….

“Attempts to extinguish the fire by the use of rock dust and water and by loading the burning caved material with a loading machine were unsuccessful, and the fire gained headway. The C north face entries were ventilated with about 28,000 cubic feet of air a minute. This quantity of air was confined to the Nos. 2 and 3 C north face entries and was permitted to sweep over the fire in order to carry smoke away from the men engaged in fighting it until about 3 p.m. when a hole, approximately 4 feet in diameter, was made outby the fire in a stopping between Nos. 3 and 4 C north entries to short-circuit some of the air from the fire and into the return air course in No. 4 entry. This hole was later partly covered with brattice cloth because the quantity of air was not sufficient to keep the smoke away from the men who were fighting the fire. A member of a rescue team entered No. 4 entry C north to determine the quality of the air returning from the fire by the use of a methane detector, a carbon monoxide detector, and a flame safety lamp. The atmosphere, according to the detectors used, contained 4.5 percent explosive gas, 1 per cent carbon monoxide, and less than 16.5 percent oxygen.

“A stopping between Nos. 1 and 2 entries C north, and outby the fire, was broken in an effort to force intake air through No. 1 entry toward the faces of C north face entries.

“Fire was evident in the No. 1 C north face entry when the stopping between the Nos. 1 and 2 entries was removed. This fire extended along both ribs for a distance of about 100 feet from the slant into No. 3 right entry toward the main west entries. It was extinguished with rock dust and water used by crews wearing oxygen breathing apparatus.

“The amount of air that could be forced into the No. 1 entry between two regulators was limited. One of these regulators was near the main west entries and the other was inby No. 3 right entry off C north face entries.

“About midnight, one man advanced to and removed the regulator in No. 1 entry inby No. 3 right entry C north face entries, thus permitting the air to move unrestricted toward the face of the entry. While plans were being made and a party was being organized to attempt to reach the face of No. 1 C north entry, the fire again broke through from the No. 2 to the No. 1 entry at about 4 right entries and spread rapidly toward No. 3 right entry. Because of the risk of having fire break through into the No. 1 entry behind any advance crew, and because of the danger of the fire burning into No. 4 right entry which with Nos. 1, 2, and 3 right entries C north face entries were worked out, abandoned, sealed with incombustible stoppings, and known to contain methane, it was decided about 3 :30 a.m., July 6, that all rescue men should be withdrawn from the mine. A meeting of the above men augmented by representatives of the United Mine Workers of America was held on the surface, and a decision to seal the mine was made about 5 a.m. The fan was stopped and the construction of 10 seals was begun about 7 a.m. and completed about 10 p.m., July 6.

“Arrangements were made to have a 3-1/8 inch diamond drill rig and a 9-inch churn drill sink holes in 7 left off C north face entries, and in C north face entries, so that communication with the entombed men could be established provided the men were still alive. A road was constructed for a distance of approximately 1 mile through fields and a wooded area so that the drill rigs could be moved to the drilling locations.

“The 9-inch churn drill began operation at 9 p.m., July 7, and completed a hole, 395 feet deep into No. 2 entry C north face entries in the slant at 9 right entry, at 5 a.m. on July 9, with a drilling time of 32 hours.

“The 3 1/8-inch diamond drill began operation at 1 a.m. on July 8 and completed a hole 551 feet deep into No. 2 entry 7 left off C north face entries at a point opposite room No. 8. This hole was completed at 7 p.m. on July 10, with an actual drilling time of 66 hours.

“Tests of the air at the bottoms of both of these drill holes showed that the air was irrespirable. A telephone and a signaling device were lowered to the bottoms of the drill holes, but no response was received from the entombed men.

“A decision was made to drive a pair of entries from the surface to the faces of the C north face entries, to facilitate recovery of the bodies of the trapped men. These entries were driven from a district on Cantina Creek known as Fishbasket, about 1,400 feet from the faces of C north face entries.

“A bulldozer began breaking ground in Fishbasket on July 9 in preparation for the driving of two slopes about 30 feet long from the surface to the coal bed. The slopes were difficult to sink because they were in loose ground and did not intersect the coal bed until July 18. In addition to sinking the two slopes, a transmission line about 8,000 feet long, a tipple, a substation, a morgue, two office buildings, a mine rescue station, and a supply yard were constructed. A fan duct was also built and two fans were installed in parallel.

“The two entries driven from the bottoms of the slopes in Fishbasket were driven three shifts a day for a distance of about 1,385 feet to intersect the faces of Nos. 1 and 3 north entries. These entries advanced an average of 49+ feet a day in each entry. The entries advanced slowly until the first slant was completed July 26, and room was provided for switching cars. The remaining distance of about 1,260 feet was driven at an average of almost 63 feet a day in each entry with a maximum of 219 feet in one day. This 219 feet included 39 feet in crosscuts, 96 feet in the left entry, and 84 feet in the right entry. Connection with the C north entries was made August 14, 1944. The last cut was removed by hand by rescue teams under oxygen and inside of air locks which were also built on August 14.

“Three mine rescue teams established ventilation in the Cats Run slope on July 30, by opening the seal at the portal of the slope and advancing 400 feet of vent tubing from blower fans on the surface to an air lock inby the bottom of the slope. Portable telephone communication was established from the slope portal to the slope bottom.

“On July 31, seals were removed from the Cats Run fan housing, the main hoisting shaft at Powhatan Point, and the Big Run air shaft, and the haulage road was ventilated outby from the temporary seals in main west entries.

“On August 14, rescue teams wearing oxygen breathing apparatus and working inby an air lock “picked” through from the left entry driven from Fishbasket into the face of No. 1 entry C north face entries.

“Exploration trips in the C north face entries to locate places for erecting stoppings and an air lock were started at 1 :22 p.m., August 14. The work of erecting stoppings and air-locking operations was continued with nine State-maintained mine rescue teams working three shifts a day.

“In the interval between August 15 and August 31, rescue teams built 28 seals and 6 air locks, while advancing from the faces of C north face entries to a point near 6 right entry. These stoppings and air locks were built in five moves and covered a distance of about 1,950 feet.

“Barricades erected by trapped miners were found outby No. 1 room in Nos. 1, 2, and 3 entries 7 right C north face entries on August 24, but an increase in atmospheric pressure and a resulting change in the quality of the air in the sealed area caused the recovery men to be removed from the mine until August 28.

“August 29, a fresh-air crew found a brattice-cloth stopping in No. 4 C north face entry between Nos. 2 and 3 entries 7 left. A board was also found in this location, which had an arrow on it pointing toward 7 left entry, and a second board found there had the check number 643 written on it.

“On August 31, a rescue team under oxygen found and recovered the body of a man from a crosscut between Nos. 2 and 3 entries at No. 8 room 7 left C north, face entries. This man had check No. 643. He had begun erection of a barricade but had been unable to complete it.

“Many persons participating in the recovery work were of the opinion that atmospheric pressures would cause increasing hazards as the fire area was approached, and that the sealed area was now as small as it should be. Men and rescue equipment were withdrawn from the Fishbasket opening for the foregoing reasons and were transferred August 31 to Cats Run to begin air-locking in the main west entries to C north face entries.

“Work was begun air-locking in the main west entries at 2 a.m., September 1, and was completed September 27, at 10:20 p.m.

“Mine rescue crews, wearing oxygen breathing apparatus, opened the seals in 7 right C north face entries at 6:30 p.m., September 12, and ventilation in these entries was advanced by fresh-air crews. Exploration of 7 right C north face entries was greatly hampered by extensive falls and very dangerous roof conditions. It was also necessary to move the methane in these entries slowly because it discharged in Fish-basket near the fan which was operated blowing and was driven by an electric motor.

“The barricades erected by the trapped men were examined while the methane was being removed from 7 right entries C north face. They had been constructed inby the first slant crosscut, of posts, ties, screw-type jacks, clothing, and coal.

“Bodies of the trapped men were found in Nos. 2 and 3 rooms on the right side of the 7 right entries C north face entries about 11 p.m., September 12, but it was not practical to recover any of them until some falls were leveled, dangerous roof “scaled” and timbered, and the rooms ventilated.

“Fifty-eight bodies were recovered from rooms Nos. 2, 3, and 4, 7 right C north face entries from September 13 to 22, and two were recovered in the 7 right entries, during the constant search from September 22 to October 5. Fresh-air crews moved and loaded numerous falls of rock both by hand and with loading machines in order to find and recover the bodies in 7 right. The work was carried on three shifts a day, except for interruptions caused by changes in the atmosphere in the sealed fire area.

“Letters and notes written by the men barricaded in 7 right C north face entries indicated that the men working in 5 right C north face entries were probably in 5 right, and since further advance in C north face entries was deemed inadvisable, it was decided that a pair of entries would be driven to 5 right. These entries were started September 25, at a point about midway between 7 right and 6 right C north face entries, and were driven on an angle of 45 degrees to intersect 6 right at Nos. 4 and 5 crosscuts. They crossed 6 right and were driven parallel to C north face entries until they intersected 5 right, a total distance of about 1,125 feet. These entries cut into 6 right October 6, and into 5 right October 18. Rescue teams, wearing oxygen breathing apparatus, erected seals in 5 right and 6 right entries near C north face entries to isolate them from the fire area.

“Exploration of 5 right C north face entries disclosed that the men working there had made an attempt to escape. They left their dinner buckets (5) and two jackets in the second crosscut from the faces of the entries and traveled into the C north face entries. An exploration trip in the C north face entries at 5 right furnished no clue as to where these five men had gone. Rescue crews reported roof conditions very bad and traveling difficult in C north face entries. State, Bureau, company, and union officials conferred and decided to abandon further exploration because of the dangerous roof conditions and difficult traveling in C north face entries until the fire was definitely known to be out and the area could be ventilated so recovery would be in fresh air.

“Equipment in 5 right C north face entries was removed from the mine at Fishbasket, and the two entries driven from C north to 5 right were sealed near C north face entries October 20.

“Notes written by some of the entombed men are conflicting, yet they do show what conditions were in the barricaded area and give an idea as to how long the men were alive.

“A note was found August 17 on a dinner bucket in the mechanic’s shanty between 7 right and 6 right C north face entries. This note stated, “I have gone to B north by way of 7 right.”

“Another note found was written at 4:40 p.m., 5:30 p.m., 6:30 p.m., and 9 p.m., July 5. It stated that the dirt stoppings (barricades) were completed by 4 :40 p.m. and that men had failed in an attempt to reach B north face entry through 7 right, C north face entries….

“A long letter written by another indicates that he probably did not survive after midnight, July 5. The latter part of his letter written at 11:07 p.m., July 5, was illegible and the lines of writing wavered.

“All of the notes found indicate that the trapped men were active and alive until 10 p.m., July 5, and that some of them were alive until after 11 p.m. None of the notes indicated that the trapped men made any effort to bypass the fire, in C north face entries, and travel to the main west entries.

“A meeting was held May 8, 1945, and a decision was made to begin recovery of the sealed fire area at midnight June 9, 1945. This decision was made because since March 18 the oxygen in the samples from the sealed area had varied between 0.8 and 1.8 percent, and because the carbon monoxide in the samples (with 2 exceptions) had not been above 0.005 percent.

“Representatives of the Ohio Division of Mines, the company, and the Bureau of Mines entered the Cats Run slope of the Powhatan Mine at 11:00 p.m., June 9, 1945. They were accompanied by two complete mine rescue teams and three members of a third team. The entire party arrived at the seals erected in C north entries near the intersection with main west entries at 11 :40 p.m.

“The second shift entered Cats Run slope at 7 :00 a.m., June 10, and arrived at the mouths of C north face entries at 7 :40 a.m. Two rescue teams removed the inner permanent seals and the temporary seals in Nos. 1, 2, and 4 C north face entries. They worked in oxygen breathing apparatus inby the air locks in the respective entries. The work was started at 8 :32 a.m. and was completed at 11 :15 a. m. ….

“The day shift entered the mine at Cats Run at 10:45 a.m., June 11. A party, members of which were representatives of the Ohio Division of Mines, the company, and the Bureau of Mines, explored all of the accessible sealed area. Some falls, over which it was impossible to travel, were encountered, but explorations extended to both ends of these falls. An oxygen-deficient atmosphere in 6 right entries prevented exploration, but these entries had been explored before the area had been sealed.

“The bodies of three men were found by the above- mentioned party in the first crosscut between Nos. 2 and 3 entries of 5 right off C north entries. The men had made a very ineffective attempt at erecting a barricade.

“The bodies of the two men not yet found are the motorman and the brakeman of the locomotive which was in 5 right C north face entries.

“The afternoon shift on June 11 removed the three bodies and continued searching for the other two.

“Smoke was found coming from the inby end of a large, tight fall in No. 2 C north face entries at 8:34 p.m. This fall was part of that covering the origin of the initial fire. Notice of the fire was received outside the mine at 9:05 p.m.

“A decision to seal the fire area, at the original seal locations, was made at 2:15 a.m., June 12. All men were out of the mine at 9:45 a.m., and the fan was stopped.

“An attempt to fight the fire was not made because: 1. The fall over the fire was too “tight” to travel over or even ventilate. 2. It was estimated that about 35 cars of rock could be loaded each shift and the fall contained several hundred cars of rock; therefore, it was believed inadvisable to ventilate the area for a period which would permit all of the rock to be loaded. 3. The seals in the mouths of 3 right entries C north face entries could not be inspected, and these entries contained a large body of methane and were near the fire.

“June 20 another meeting was held relative to the resumption of mining in the Powhatan mine. It was agreed by all parties, previously named, that the mine be operated, and plans were made to continue patrol of the seals and collection of air samples. It was necessary for a representative of the Ohio Division of Mines and one of the Bureau of Mines to prepare and post a notice that the mine was safe to be operated before the men would go to work.

*********

“A meeting of representatives of the Ohio Division of Mines, the United Mine Workers of America, the company, and the Bureau of Mines was held March 20, 1946, and a decision was made to begin recovery of the sealed area at 12:15 a.m., March 31, 1946. This decision was made because carbon monoxide had not been found in any of the air samples collected from the fire area since November 13, 1945.

“Searches for the two bodies still in the mine were conducted from the time the fire area was ventilated until the bodies were found about 8:50 a.m., April 10. These bodies were found in No. 2 C north entry at the inby corner of the first crosscut between Nos. 2 and 3 C north entries outby the 5 right supply-track chute. They were brought to the surface at the river portal of the mine at 10:50 a.m. the same day. These men, the motorman and brakeman in 5 right off C north, had apparently tried to get out of the mine by either No. 2 or 3 entry, and were retreating toward the faces of the C north entries when they were overcome.

“On April 2, the loading machine in No. 3 C north entry pulled the trolley wire, the feeder cable, and a piece of ¾-inch steel-wire rope from under a fall at the long slant into 3 right. The end of the trolley wire had been melted, the steel-wire rope had been burned through, and copper from the trolley wire had melted on the rope and cooled there. This definitely confirmed the belief that the fire originated in No. 3 C north entry at the long slant into 3 right.”

Lahmers: “A fire broke out when a rock fell, damaging a high-voltage trolley. Sparks ignited coal near the junction of the main passageway and a 3,600-foot dead-end corridor. At the time of the disaster, Powhatan No. 1 was Eastern Ohio’s largest mine, employing 850 people.” (Lahmers 2008)

Ohio Historical Society: “On July 5, 1944, a section of roof fell in No. 3 entry at C North face of Powhatan No. 1, a mine with a dangerous reputation. A trolley wire shorted and ignited the coal seam, trapping sixty-six miners deep in the mine. Rescue and firefighting efforts failed, and officials sealed the mine to extinguish the blaze-also sealing the fate of the miners. This tragedy, which compounded two 1940 disasters at the Hanna Coal Company’s Willow Grove mine (72 dead) and Y&O Coal’s Nelms mine (31 dead), deeply affected the close-knit community. The Powhatan fire was this area’s last mining disaster of the twentieth century.” (Ohio Historical Society. “Powhatan…”)

Newspaper

Evening Independent Massillon, OH, Dec 28, 1944: “Fire deep in the bowels of the southeastern Ohio coal fields doomed 66 miners trapped by the flames in Powhatan coal mine, near Bellaire on June 6 to a horrible death. Sheets of flame rocketed up and down underground passages, cutting off escape. The miners managed to wall themselves into underground cells, safe from the flames—and of the reach of rescuers.

“Heroic, though unsuccessful rescue efforts followed for days and weeks, but it was not until months later, in early October, that 61 of the bodies were carried to the surface. The remains of 5 still lie underground, entombed in heaps of coal and rock in which they dug for a livelihood.” (Evening Independent, Massillon OH. “East Ohio Blast…Disaster,” Dec 28, 1944, p. 8.)

Sources

Bureau of Mines. Report of a Fire at Powhatan Mine, Powhatan Point, Ohio, July 5, 1944 – 66 Killed. Accessed 4-1-2024 at: https://usminedisasters.miningquiz.com/saxsewell/powhatan_1944.pdf

Evening Independent, Massillon OH. “East Ohio Blast, Fire Was Ohio’s Major 1944 Disaster,” Dec 28, 1944, p. 8. At: http://www.newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=97888598

Keenan, Charles M. Historical Documentation of Major Coal-Mine Disasters in the United States Not Classified as Explosions of Gas or Dust: 1846-1962 (Bulletin 616). Washington, DC: Bureau of Mines, Department of the Interior, 1963. Accessed 4-1-2024 at: http://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc12768/m1/2/

Lahmers, Ken. “Kaleidoscope: In old days, death common in mines. Akron Beacon Journal. 3-26-2008. Accessed 4-1-2024 at: https://www.beaconjournal.com/story/news/local/aurora-advocate/2008/03/26/kaleidoscope-in-old-days-death/19806180007/

National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Mining Safety and Health Research.. Mining Disasters (Incidents with 5 or more Fatalities). NIOSH, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2-26-2013 update. Accessed 4-1-2024 at:

https://wwwn.cdc.gov/NIOSH-Mining/MMWC/MineDisasters/Table

Ohio Historical Society. “Powhatan Disaster, 1944.” Remarkable Ohio: Marking Ohio’s History. 11/09/2008 at: http://www.ohiochannel.org/your_state/remarkable_ohio/marker_details.cfm?marker_id=525

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