1944 Troop Train Wreck : As Published in the 2007 Historically Speaking Column of the Oak Ridger Newspaper

By David Ray Smith

Troop train wreck that occurred July 6, 1944 in the Jellico Narrows. One of the 25 worst train wrecks in the nation. Young soldiers were just going to war when the awful wreck killed 34 and injured over 100 of the new recruits

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: Mar 30, 2011
• ISBN: 9781257277353

Book preview

1944 Troop Train Wreck

As published in the 2007 Historically Speaking column of the Oak Ridger newspaper

David Ray Smith

Published September 2007

Oak Ridge, Tennessee

FIRST EDITION

First Hardback Printing – September 2008

Copies of this book are available directly online from www.lulu.com/smithdray and www.thesecretcitystore.com

Or through SmithDRay Web Pages at www.smithdray.net

Or by contacting Ray Smith by e-mail at [e-mail] or by phone at 865-482-4224

Copyright © 2007 by David Ray Smith

Introduction

Introduction to the Audio book:

This series is also available in an Audio Book produced by Secret City Films. An unabridged version of Historically Speaking – 2007, The July 6, 1944 Troop Train Wreck is read by author Ray Smith.

These articles are read exactly as published in The Oak Ridger, a local Oak Ridge, TN newspaper. They are included in the audio book in chronological order.

This audio book is available for purchase from www.SecretCityFilms.com, www.TheSecretCityStore.com or www.SmithDRay.net.

Introduction to the series of articles:

This special series of Historically Speaking column articles published in The Oak Ridger is the result of Bill Sergeant’s encouragement and materials he supplied me. His story of being assigned to take troops from Oak Ridge to the troop train wreck is a unique story. He still has a very sharp mind and detailed memories of that historic event.

On July 6, 1944, Bill was one of the military officers assigned to Oak Ridge and got the order to take a group of military personnel to the wreck scene to protect the government personnel and property. When Bill and his forces arrived, they were gladly given control of the scene to include traffic control. The Highway Patrol officers were happy to see him and his personnel. They stayed with the train until all Army personnel and equipment had been removed.

My research was based primarily on the information Bill provided me, such as copies of the official FBI and Army reports. These reports had never been seen by the public nor had they been available to the press for publication prior to my obtaining them from Bill.

I also learned of a book, She Jumped The Track by John P. Ascher, that was a very good account of the accident. Ascher goes to great lengths to capture all the documented evidence for the cause of the train wreck.

Additionally, I met Mark Tidwell. Mark was able to give me several insights into the history of the area that includes the train wreck. He showed me the steam dome and introduced me to Dobey, the deputy sheriff who did not drive. Mark also provided me the results of several interviews he held with folks who still live in Highcliff and who recall the accident.

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Ray Smith September, 2008

This story was one that gave me pride in capturing all the various elements in one series. Mark Tidwell is the Jellico Public Library librarian. He has asked for copies of the series for the library at Jellico. I have also been requested to provide copies of the articles to The Museum of Appalachia.

This booklet serves to capture many aspects of the wreck in one location and of providing some new information that has not been available to the public until now. The research certainly was fascinating and the people I came in contact with were certainly a tremendous group of folks.

It is my hope that you enjoy reading the stories half as much as I enjoyed capturing and documenting them.

July 6, 1944: Oak Ridge responds to a troop train wreck

By: D. Ray Smith | Historically Speaking | The Oak Ridger | May 22, 2007

In late 1942, under the most unique and unusual circumstances, a city was born almost overnight, and 3,000 people had to find another place to live to accommodate the huge industrial effort to obtain sufficient quantity of Uranium 235 for an atomic bomb. Oak Ridge was born. In 1943 the city grew at an amazing pace never before seen.

The Oak Ridge community was a gated city, a Secret City, as it was not on any map and badges were required of all who sought to enter the military area known to various people first as the Kingston Demolition Range, then the Clinton Engineer Works, and The Manhattan Project in Tennessee, and finally Oak Ridge.

The local people had no idea what was going on. They wondered about these unusual people coming to live where their small communities once proudly stood. Yet the surrounding communities knew by word of mouth that something very important was being done there and that it had to do with the war effort. Occasionally the surrounding communities interacted with the new and most unusual Secret City, and often officials in surrounding cities exchanged communications with the military officers there.

This unusual collection of young energetic and educated individuals were placed in the midst of several communities of Appalachia that had been settled starting a century and a half ago by a mixture of people seeking freedom and independence without the crowded conditions of the coastal cities. They took the land from the Cherokees through various treaty negotiations and by just living on the land they wanted. Over the years, a proud heritage had developed in the area which was typified by the Overmountain Men’s victory at King’s Mountain.

A fiercely independent people who were, at the same time, strongly patriotic toward the young United States lived in the ridges and valleys of East Tennessee. It is these people who were removed in November and December 1942 with little notice and less consideration to make