1947 Texas City Volunteer Firefighters -- Texas City TX
N 29° 24.513 W 094° 56.264
15R E 311993 N 3254812
This memorial was erected to remember the sacrifice of the Texas City Volunteer Fire Department, who lost all their members but one in the Texas City industrial disaster of 16 Apr 1947.
Waymark Code: WMG3B3
Location: Texas, United States
Date Posted: 01/07/2013
Views: 9
On 16 Apr 1947 a small fire in the hold of the SS Grandcamp, loaded with thousands of tons of ammonium-nitrate fertilizer, grew into a conflagration that eventually caused the ship to explode. Nineteen of the 20 total members of the Texas City Vounteer Firefighter were aboard, fighting the fire. They died instantly. Their remains were never found.
When the Grandcamp exploded, the force of the blast knocked people over in Galveston (10 miles away) and broke windows in Houston (40 miles away). People felt the shock wave 100 miles away in Louisiana.
The Grandcamp's explosion destroyed the Monsanto Chemical prcessing plant and a ruptured tanks ar an adjacent oil refinery, causing them to explode. After 16 hours to desperate attempts to move the SS High Flyer out of port to prevent her load of ammonium-nitrate from blowing up too, she finally exploded. Again, that blast ignited subsequent explosions in nearby refineries.
The devastation was compared to that seen at Nagasaki Japan after the atomic bomb was dropped on that city and the end of WWII.
Almost 600 people died instantly at Texas City. Close to 5000 people were injured. After all the fires were out and all the bodies discovered, 63 unidentified sets of remains were left in a makeshift morgue in this shattered city.
Over two months after the disaster, with emotions still raw and the city still pretty much leveled, a new cemetery was created on what had been barren prairie north of town. Many thousands of Texas City and Gulf Coast residents took time off from rebuilding the city to come pay their respects to the unknown dead, who were given funerals with donated hearses and flowers. Volunteer clergy officiated and volunteer pallbearers carried the unknowns to the hearses.
The new cemetery for the unknowns was named simply "Memorial Cemetery." It was closed to other burials immediately after the service, intending to be a self-contained memorial for all the dead of Texas City who perished that day. It was the first memorial to this disaster erected in the city.
A white marble angel strewing flowers presided over the cemetery. On the base of the angel statue is inscribed the words "In Memory of Texas City Volunteer Firemen"
Today, the cemetery is a centerpiece of a larger and more evocative memorial. The angel strews her flowers into a fountain. Although the subject matter is difficult, this memorial and cemetery is well worth a visit.
Memorial Website: [Web Link]
Physical address:
299 29th St N
Texas City, TX
77590
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