From The Charleroi Mail, Charleroi PA, Saturday, June 24, 1944, page 8:
51 Boys Saved By Lying Prone
Washington, Pa., June 24 -- (UP)--
The lives of 51 boy campers at Camp Buffalo, Washington county (sic), probably were saved last night when a Y. M. C. A. official ordered them to lie prone on the
ground as the tornado neared the summer camp.
Today the camp is in ruins, but only 11 of the youths were injured in the storm.
They were treated at Washington hospital (sic) and later released after being treated for cuts and
bruises caused by flying debris.
Within a few seconds after Wilbur S. Baird, secretary of the Y. M. C. A. here, ordered the boys to leave the main dining hall and run to a hillside 80 yards away, the camp's
eight cabins, dining hall and craft hall were torn from their foundations and crushed like match boxes. Damage to the camp, which was dedicated four years ago, was estimated at $20,000.
(end)
Sources:
The Charleroi Mail newspaper, Charleroi PA, numerous articles.
