Boyett: Artillery shell explosion killed 4 at Camp Breckinridge in 1944
Camp Breckinridge was in the news quite a bit during the spring of 1944.
The biggest story, by far, was a March 11 training accident that killed four men and injured 28 others, 10 of them seriously.
The Gleaner's first story about the event appeared March 12 and carried few details other than naming the fatal victims. "An investigation has been started, the (Army) announcement said, but did not explain how the men were killed."
The dead were Sgt. Cecil A. Gayer, 22, of Vincennes, a member of the U.S. Army Air Force; PFC Louis Glick, 29, of Philadelphia; Pvt. William H. Drawdy, 28, of Varnville, South Carolina; and William D. Furgang, 29, of New York City.
Drawdy left a widow; the others were single.
A follow-up story appeared March 14 in which the cause of the accident was identified as "the explosion of live artillery ammunition." However, "It has been learned that the cause of the accident was not misdirected artillery fire."
The second story also identified the 10 most seriously injured soldiers. I did some research and it appears none of them died from their injuries.
An explosion of a different kind roiled relations between the Army camp and the city of Morganfield, according to a March 4 Gleaner article that was borrowed from the Union County Advocate.
That story reported a meeting between camp commander Col. Russell C. Throckmorton, members of his staff, and Morganfield Mayor J.H. Stoll, Police Chief Harry Whitefield and city Councilmen Conway McMurray, A.V. Conway and Louis Jones.
The upshot of the meeting was that Morganfield would get more military policemen -- not only more MPs, but also the return of black MPs.
"Tuesday's conference was called as a result of a near riot in the city's Negro section Saturday evening" when the police chief and another officer responded to a call at the Melody Club, a black night spot. The two officers attempted to arrest a black soldier who had a bottle of rum on his table, but about 50 soldiers objected to the arrest. Things got tense.
"During the episode of getting the arrested man into the police car, several shots were fired and one Negro soldier was wounded in the leg. He is in the camp hospital."
The officers later arrested a black sergeant for incitement to riot, alleging he had been the ringleader in the incident.
The story quoted the police chief pointing out it was illegal "to have any sort of intoxicants on tables in the city limits of Morganfield."
Another story appeared April 27 reporting two black soldiers had been arrested on possession of marijuana charges. One of them, Joseph Miller of Detroit, had almost a pound in his footlocker. The other, Arthur Williams of New York City, had enough for about 100 marijuana cigarettes.
Both denied they were dealing but conceded they had used marijuana since they were teenagers. They refused to disclose their supply source.
The story noted two earlier arrests at Camp Breckinridge had been made in the fall of 1943 after marijuana use had been reported there.
Law enforcement at the camp began beefing up in mid-March, possibly in response to the incident at the Melody Club, according to The Gleaner of March 15. The camp was made headquarters of Provost Marshal Area No. 8, which covered 10 southern Indiana counties and seven western Kentucky counties.
"Regular (MP) patrols will be maintained at Evansville, Ind., and Morganfield and Henderson, Ky."
The Gleaner of March 9 reported the camp was hosting a new radio system that allowed military police at the camp to have direct radio communication with both the Indiana and Kentucky state police, as well as with municipal police departments in Henderson, Owensboro and Evansville.
Under ideal conditions, the camp's radio signal could reach a radius of 200 miles. "Data on all escapes from this camp and from other camps in this district are kept on file at the Provost Marshal Headquarters."
The Gleaner of March 7 noted the newspaper office had received an odd phone call from the St. Louis Times-Star about a report it purportedly had heard on Walter Winchell's radio broadcast. Winchell, for those who don't know, was about as famous as a radio newsman could get in those days.
"According to the Times-Star, Winchell had said that German prisoners were being drilled on the streets of Henderson. The St. Louis newspaper was assured that the statement was not true.
"Walker Smith, who heard the Winchell broadcast, said that Winchell did not mention Henderson, but said in some camp in Kentucky they were being drilled."
I'll end this on a somewhat lighter note with a Gleaner story that appeared April 27. It seems that a quick-witted PFC named John J. Thudium had been participating in war game maneuvers at Camp Breckinridge.
"He was plodding along carrying an empty water bag when an enemy scout from an advance unit stepped in front of him. 'Who in hell are you?' demanded the scout.
"'I'm the water boy for both d___d armies,' replied PFC Thudium, ankling right along.
"The enemy scout stepped aside, scratched his head and began thumbing through a copy of the umpire's rules as the 'water boy' disappeared over a hill."
100 years ago
Former President William Howard Taft passed through Henderson on a special train car while touring the country with the League to Enforce Peace, according to The Gleaner of March 1, 1919.
Henderson residents – not even the agent at Union Depot – knew of his passage until after it had occurred.
Taft made a brief speech when the train stopped in Madisonville. He was appointed chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court in 1921, the only president to serve in that role.
50 years ago
Mayor Maurice Galloway proposed a 30-day quarantine of dogs to alleviate the threat large packs of dogs were posing to children and property, according to The Gleaner of March 6, 1969.
The idea was ratified March 19 by the Henderson City Commission and went into effect March 31. The quarantine was being tried as a measure short of enactment of a leash law, as proposed by the health department.
25 years ago
Plans for the Wolf Hills subdivision and golf course in the vicinity of U.S. 60-East and Wathen Lane were approved by the Henderson City-County Planning Commission, according to The Gleaner of March 3, 1994.
The golf course opened as Players Club Golf Course but struggled for years before going under. The city of Henderson bought it in 2018 and reopened it as The Bridges Golf Course of Henderson with a private operator.
Source: Copy and Pasted from "www.thegleaner.com/story/news/2019/03/02/boyett-artillery-shell-explosion-killed-4-camp-breckinridge/3014347002/"
All credit to the original writer of the article Frank Boyett
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HorrorI am currently a student at earle c clements job corps. I am doing research on the deaths that have happened on this land.
