- I cannot express the gloom that descended upon the valley as the extent of this tragedy struck home.

(somber music) - I didn't know this other train was even coming.

We were all asleep and we had no idea until after it hit.

- They found me under a pile of rubble and I was unconscious.

And then they took me by ambulance to Coshocton Hospital.

- I was in the last car.

That car was hit and it went up in the air and come down on top of this next to the last car.

And that's where most of the men were killed.

- A lot of the kids, they were only in two weeks.

They had just joined and they got killed.

It was terrible.

- I looked up and I thought that a bridge had fallen over across the car behind us.

And as I got closer to that area, I realized that it was another train car.

And that's when I really realized that wow, we're in a train accident.

- It was overwhelming 'cause I'd never seen that before in my life.

So many bodies laid out with the caskets, all draped in the American flag with others doing what I was doing, serving as honor guard.

It was a very moving experience, obviously, and one that stayed with me forever.

(somber music) (somber music) - [Narrator] It was one of the worst tragedies of the 20th century affecting the Wyoming Valley.

33 members of the 109th field artillery were killed and many others injured when their troop train was rammed by a Pennsylvania railroad passenger train.

It happened near West Lafayette, Ohio on September 11th, 1950.

More than 50 years later, that same month and day, September 11th, would be marked by another tragedy of even greater proportions.

The 109th had been federalized for service because of the Korean War.

- We were actually training at Fort Indiantown Gap and the commander called a meeting and we thought it was unusual that privates were invited to the meeting.

Usually it was for the staff.

And he announced that the governor and the Pentagon had decided to call the 28th division to active duty because of the Korean War.

Because of that, our training was cut short and in a couple of days, we returned to Wilkes-Barre.

They're giving us 10 days to prepare to leave.

- We had to stay over at the army the last week and pull duty for the whole week.

And on Sunday of the 10th of September, we boarded trucks and went over to the train station.

Had a lot of well wishers there.

It was jammed.

We boarded the train and headed out to go into Camp Atterbury, Indiana.

- We were waiting to embark to go to Atterbury.

And there was a lot of anticipation, as I said.

I think some people were concerned because they didn't know what was gonna happen.

- The mood of everyone was really fantastic.

Everyone was, if you want to express it that way, we were all glad to be going.

We thought we were gonna be doing something good, something worthwhile.

At our ages, particularly for the nation, we figured this is great.

Having had brothers and other people serve during the Second World War, we thought it was our time and we were ready and willing to go and fantastic spirits for everyone.

- [Narrator] The spirits would change dramatically.

Early the next morning, the troop train experienced mechanical trouble and halted for repairs.

Most of the men were asleep, unaware that another train was bearing down on them.

- Spirit of St. Louis was on the same track coming toward us, and we were stalled with a broken air hose and they set out the flares to let this engineer know on that train what was ahead, that there was a stalled troop train.

He ignored all the signals and then the man put the flares out on his way back threw a flare against the windshield, and by that time they say he hit the brakes, but he still hit the train at 50 to 60 miles per hour.

When the train hit the last car, it threw it up over our car onto the third car.

Then the train came in at floor level and totally destroyed our car where most of them were killed.

There was four of us from service battery that got out.

We were thrown clear of the wreckage.

We tried to figure out how and why that we got out and everybody around us didn't.

- The car got thrown up into the air, our train car, and it got pushed forward and it landed on the other one.

And at the time it was up in the air, I was about three quarters in the car, so I started falling backwards and I hit one of the seats and I think a rifle butt hit me or something because my nose got banged up.

After that, there was complete silence.

It was very, very dark and the smell was terrible from the oil, I guess, and the fumes.

And it was just very, very quiet.

- [Narrator] The difficult rescue effort began immediately upon hearing the news of the accident.

- The first word that we received from the accident was phone call from Mrs. Shirtz, the farm lady right at the site.

And she called our funeral home and Mr. Bonnell called me at my home and said there's been a terrible train accident just east of the Shirtz Family Farm.

And we responded with two ambulances from our funeral home in West Lafayette, and we also had one in Newcomerstown, Ohio.

And we had two ambulances respond from that and instructed Mrs. Bonell to call ambulances from all the area towns, Newcomerstown, Coshocton, Yorkville and Dover, New Philly area.

- Everybody was giving orders, directing people to hurry up over here, get help, pull people out of the cars.

And the one car that was up on top, they were hanging on the outside and we were lifting them down.

We would try to get something to put up against that car to help them down out of the windows.

The windows were open so that they were able to crawl and they were telling us that there were more injured inside, and so we had to wait till we got other help to get up inside that one car that was up on top.

And we all assisted in setting up along the tracks the people that had died and the people that were injured.

About that time, some of the ambulances and some of the people that came, the civilians came and they assisted also.

And we were assisting people getting into the ambulances and pulling out the dead.

- When we started the search recovery process, we, through our training, tried to do our best in the fog and the darkness to hunt the people that was the most severely injured, get them loaded and in Coshocton Hospital.

And by the time I got back from that first trip, there was ambulances from everywhere it seemed like at that time.

And they were all working very well, sorting out the injured.

- I was seriously injured.

I had two discs injured in my neck, three in my spine.

I had a crack in my hip and pelvic area.

I had a steel bar through my right leg.

I was in Coshocton Hospital for approximately maybe a month, six weeks.

And they transported us from Coshocton Hospital by air from Zanesville Airport to Wright Patterson Air Force Hospital in Dayton, Ohio.

- [Narrator] Whether you lived or died depended for the most part on where you were at the time of the crash, as well as fateful decisions.

- Prior to the accident, I guess that's where I became a very lucky fella.

A friend of mine, Private Disbrow was in service battery in another car, and his mom had made us a cake.

And I was to get together with him in his car and eat the cake and celebrate a little bit.

As things turned out, I never got back there.

And he was one of the fellas that didn't make it.

Had I gone back there, I know I was intending to go back and stay because there was room in his seat for me to sit there and stay with him and I never did make it.

And because of that, I guess I'm still here today.

- I was very lucky.

And I feel sorry for all those other guys that lost their life because they were so young.

I often think about some of them, probably the things that they would've accomplished today if they had lived, because some of them were bright, bright men.

They were good people.

Ronald Jackson was my best friend, and he was killed in the train wreck.

And we were real close.

In fact, we changed seats in the train and he was killed and I survived.

- I was close to Sergeant Whitey Wharton and 'cause I had trained with him for three years and he was in my gun battery.

And I was also close to Billy Tierney, who was my childhood friend.

I don't understand why 33 were killed and I was spared and some others were injured severely.

I can remember one of the fellows that was in the kitchen car, and he was in the hospital with me, and he was burned severely all through his body.

- I've never really thought about it in a way that you would think that they had to leave and I had to stay.

I think the way I thought about it was that being in the fifth car away from the main accident, I think that I was there to help the other people.

I always looked at it as I was there and I think I did my duty and job to help everybody else.

- [Narrator] Certain vivid images still stick in Joe Anistranski's mind.

- The things that I remember most is how I just couldn't picture how badly steel could be bent, twisted and mangled like that.

And in this case, not nice to say, but the bodies were mangled with it and within the steel.

And when we were still leaving the scene, railroad personnel were there with torches, burning steel to help remove people.

- [Narrator] Among those killed was Captain Arthur Thomas, who had a strange feeling that he might not be coming back.

- At several formations, he talked to us and explained to us having had a lot of experience from the Second World War.

One of the things he mentioned that he had a premonition for he himself, that he may not return from this activation of the troops.

And as it turned out, he was one of the officers that we lost.

- [Narrator] Sally Wiener, one of Captain Thomas's daughters, was only seven at the time.

- I remember it was a Monday and I was coming home from school.

I went to St. Ann's Academy in Wilkes-Barre, and the bus used to drop us off at the corner of Price Street and Chestnut Street.

And I was getting off the bus and I remember Peggy Lochran who was a neighbor of ours came running down the street and said, "Your father has been hurt."

But I had no idea what had happened because we had gone the day before to see them off on Sunday.

And when I came home, there were all sorts of people at the house, my mother's relatives and friends and my grandfather whom we lived with was there.

They waited, I guess, all night to find out the names of the people who had been killed.

And then the next morning, my grandfather and my mother were sitting in my mother's bedroom and my mother was crying, and I guess I found out then that my father had been killed.

- [Narrator] A few days after the terrible accident, Stanley Smith was selected for special duty.

- I was picked to be an honor guard for a corporal Arn Brewster from Plains.

And I accompanied him from the casket that was loaded on a train at Coshocton and stayed with him all the way till we got to Wilkes-Barre.

When the train pulled into the station, there was crowds of people there, and we unloaded the caskets.

And the 33 carriers started out Market Street, around the square and over the bridge.

You could hear probably a pin drop if it wasn't for the motors or the hum of the carriers, but everybody was quiet and coming over the bridge was exceptionally quiet and it was a very eerie feeling.

And we pulled into the armory and lined up the vehicles on each side of the floor of the armory.

- [Narrator] Attorney Harold Rosenn stood honor guard for Captain Thomas.

- What I remember most was that there's absolute silence.

People just deep in thought and in mourning.

It was not like a parade.

It was certainly unlike anything I had ever experienced before, but it was like a mass funeral as it was for the whole community.

I was very, very moved and I never saw that experience before or saw that scene before or since where here were all these coffins laid out with the flags draped over them.

No music, it was just a very sad, sad experience for all of us.

And I stood in my honor guard.

I believe it was a two hour session, not a word was said and just stood with the body.

But to me it was a time to remember and time to reminisce and associated with a fine, fine person.

- [Narrator] With Governor James Duff attending as official Mourner of the Commonwealth, it was one of the saddest, most heart-wrenching days in the history of the Wyoming Valley.

("Taps" bugle call plays) Each year a memorial service is held at the Kingston Armory.

- The history of the 109th field artillery is a history of the Wyoming Valley.

You cannot separate them.

11, September has always been important to Wyoming Valley.

It's been etched in the memory of the 109th field artillery.

I think it's important as my predecessors have to remember our contribution to the preservation of our liberty and to show the sacrifice that the Wyoming Valley has given in defense of our communities, our commonwealth and our country.

- [Narrator] Special observances are also held in Ohio near the scene of the accident.

- The 50th anniversary of the troop train accident consisted of people from Pennsylvania and also from West Lafayette and Coshocton surrounding areas, taking part in the memorial.

We had an county commissioner from Luzerne County, Steve Urban here as our main speaker.

We also had members of the 109th field artillery and the 107th field artillery as part of the program.

One of the special parts of the program consisted of, we had 33 white crosses, one for each of the soldiers that were killed, placed on the grounds out there, and the local Boy Scout troop took individual dog tags and went around and as the name of that individual was called out, the dog tag was placed on a cross.

- On my last trip to the ceremony, off in the distance, while the ceremony was going on, you could hear the sound of a train whistle.

And during the speech, this steam locomotive with cars came into view, slowed down, stopped and shut down.

It was an outstanding tribute to not only our soldiers, but to the hard work that the citizens of West Lafayette put together to honor those soldiers who served their country.

- [Narrator] A very impressive memorial in West Lafayette pays tribute to the soldiers who lost their lives.

- The Troop Train Memorial consists of a black granite marker, and there we list the names of the individuals that were killed.

The granite marker is symbolic because it is made of Pennsylvania black granite.

It's called French Creek granite.

The Troop Train Committee at that time when we were designing the monument, it was suggested by the Heritage Monument Sales in Coshocton to use maybe granite from the state of Pennsylvania.

And we thought that was a very good idea.

So that's really symbolic or special about the marker.

- [Narrator] Another prominent part of the memorial is a 105 millimeter howitzer.

- It's kind of symbolic because a lot of the soldiers that were killed were with the 109th field artillery, and they were using, at that time, the 105 millimeter howitzer.

It was quite ironic that when we were digging the foundation for the granite marker, we dug up some ties that were actually part of the old siding that the funeral train backed in on back in 1950 to take those 33 bodies back to Pennsylvania.

And we have a plaque that was placed there by the family of John Terry, who was the radio announcer that did the live broadcasting from West Lafayette to Pennsylvania and where the soldiers were able to talk to home and say, "We're okay."

- [Narrator] Patterson stresses the importance of the memorial.

- I was four years old when the troop train accident happened, and I remember over the years of reading and seeing pictures in the old newspapers.

Individuals grow older and sometimes pictures and things disappear.

The memory may disappear someday, and we felt that there had to be a need to make something permanent for the people to remember this by.

- We knew all of the things that the people from Ohio did for us and for the other people on and at the train wreck.

But to see how nice and how beautiful the monument was and all, it's one of the few times in my life I think it brought tears to me, and I don't cry very easily, but that was really something that really moved me, that those people honored us and those that we lost.

Like that was extremely nice.

- In addition to the monument out in Ohio, in Luzerne County, we have two memorials.

We have a memorial here at the Armory on Market Street, which is a granite monument keystone.

On one side, it acknowledges the 33 dead from battery B and service battery.

On the other side, it notes the history of the train wreck, how it happened, when it happened.

It notes that the monument, in addition to the four three inch field guns that are currently located in front of the armory, were presented by friends of the battalion and the soldiers.

In addition, it has a biblical verse from John 15-3, which states, "No man can do more "than to give his life for his friends."

On the Luzerne County courthouse grounds, there is also a monument to the soldiers from the 109th, again, identifying them and their service during the Korean War.

- [Narrator] September 11th, 1950, a day of disaster, heartbreak, and sorrow.

More than 50 years later, September 11th would become doubly emotional.

- I was sitting in this room on 11th, September conducting a meeting when I was notified that a plane had hit the World Trades Building, and I immediately thought, "Well, it was a small plane."

And then as we concluded our meeting and went to see the TV, the information came much more, became much more apparent what had happened.

11, September has always been important to the battalion.

Now 11, September is important to the country.

(somber music) - The commander of our battalion at that time was Lieutenant Colonel Frank Townend, Second World War veteran, combat veteran.

Not only was he a fantastic soldier and artilleryman, he treated you, everyone so very nicely.

He was a fantastic man and soldier and I was pleased and proud to serve under him.

- Frank Townend was the best officer that ever came out of the 109th field artillery.

I knew the man since 1948 and I don't remember him ever missing one function that ever went on within the 109th or anything part of the 109th, he was there.

- Anybody in the 109th that needed assistance or help or whatever, his door was always open.

He was the first officer I ever knew that had an open door policy.

You could go and talk to him anytime you wanted to.

- He was always the individual you'd go to for guidance or advice.

To the general, I think in his mind, he was never the former battalion commander.

He was always here, always looking, always supporting his regiment.

He was our link to the past, but he was also our bridge to the future.

He epitomized duty and selfless service, both values of today's army, and he exemplified them without blemish.

- I've talked to some individuals that were involved with the troop train accident and they still remember to this day a lot of the tragedy and things that's embedded in their mind, they don't ever forget.

- I just consider myself very lucky that I can sit here today and talk about it 50 years later versus the 33 men that never made it, never had a chance to experience the wonderful things that I've gone through.

- What happened 50 years ago has never left my mind.

It's like a tape, what you see on TV.

I was born and raised in the community and every time I drive up the highway, I look over at the wreck site and it all comes back and goes through my mind that all these soldiers and their families and what they went through.

(artillery firing) (somber music) (artillery firing continues) (somber music continues) (artillery firing continues) (somber music continues) (artillery firing continues) (somber music) (somber music continues) (somber music continues)