The Day the Windows Shook

WE WERE ALL GATHERED IN the auditorium of Beaumont’s Millard Elementary School when the windows began rattling, a strong enough vibration that 71 years later I remember the moment. Though I could not tell you the names of my third-grade teacher or more than one or two of my classmates, I distinctly remember feeling a tinge of fear not unlike what I experienced when I heard the sirens signaling a practice air raid during World War II.

Two small planes were knocked out of the sky, and a 15-foot wave carried a barge 100 feet inland, bringing it to rest on the smoldering wreckage of a fire truck.

I remember, too, how we all turned to look out the windows and saw only the placid blue Texas sky on that unseasonably cool April morning. We would not know for some time about dishes crashing off shelves in nearby Port Arthur, or people