The Observer-Reporter, Washington, Pa., June 23, 2004, page A-1 and A-2:
Sixty years later,
survivors have vivid memories of killer storm
Tornadoes claimed dozens of victims in Greene, Washington counties
by Sarah E. Core, Staff writer
You can always tell it's a tornado because it sounds like a locomotive. At least, that's what people always say.
D. Carey "Murf" Polan agrees, but he said what he remembers first about the tornado he lived through is lightening flashing against a blue evening sky.
On June 23, 1944, while at a church retreat, he saw a dark, low-lying cloud moving shockingly fast through the ravine, its long, snake-like tail weaving drunkenly below it, sliding back and forth along the hillsides but always moving closer.
"It didn't take much intelligence to see that it was a tornado," he said gravely, recounting the path of one of five tornados that hit Western Pennsylvania 60 years ago, when he was 13.
Now known as one of the largest and most deadly tornado outbreaks in the United States, the Appalachian Outbreak*, as the National Weather Service calls it, ravaged the hillsides of West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Maryland, even going as far as Delaware and Ohio.
The cities of Pittsburgh and Washington escaped unscathed, but the same cannot be said for the outlying areas of Allegheny, Washington and Greene counties.
The headlines for the June 24, 1944, issue of the Washington [Please see Storm, Page A2] Observer and Washington Reporter estimated that at least 60 people in two states had been killed. When the final victims of the tornadoes succumbed in area hospitals a few weeks later, the number reached 153. More than 800 people were injured, ranging from minor lacerations to fractured bones and even loss of limbs.
The damage in the three states hit hardest by the outbreak, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Maryland, totaled $5 million.
Three major tornadoes, with speeds of 200 to 260 mph, buffeted West Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Maryland for three hours, lasting from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. The last two tornadoes hit Thomas, W.Va., and Dorchester, Md., roughly two hours later.
Everyone survived that day at the Washington YWCA's Camp Buffalo, which was in one tornado's direct path. Nearly 70 youths from the Washington Presbyterian Society, along with their camp counselors, were saved by the quick thinking of Wilbur S. Baird, the YWCA's general secretary.
Richard Milligan, who was 12 then, remembers that Baird was originally from out West, which is why he knew what to do when the tornado hit. He instructed the children to get out of the building and lie down near the bottom of the hill. There was a stand of young trees there, and each child wrapped his arms around a trunk or clutched the grass and held on.
"We were getting ready (for vespers)," said Milligan, "when he told us to go lay down on the side of the hill."
"By that time we could hear the howling winds," said Polan. Stinging rain and welt-worthy hail pummeled the group as they clung to the trees. The cabins scattered like toothpicks, while automobiles flew overhead. Finally, the tornado greedily snatched off the roof of the mess hall and tore the building away piece by piece--even the massive stone fireplace, with rocks half the size of a Volkswagon, according to Polan.
"The tornado came up and just leveled everything," said Milligan. In fact, all that was left of the camp was the footer of the mess hall. Milligan said his older brother and eight other campers were injured, none seriously.
Others in the area were not so lucky. A nearby dairy farm, said Milligan, was struck hard, and a young girl and her father were killed. Mabel SHOOK, 13, and her father, William, were listed Saturday in the newspaper under a bleak heading titled "The Dead." Her family was one of many rural communities devastated by the tornado.
In the McKeesport area, the communities of Dravosburg, Port Vue, Versailles, Boston and Greenock suffered heavy damage from one tornado, losing 17 people.
The Camp Buffalo tornado traveled to Chartiers and Dry Tavern, which lost 22 people and saw more than 65 houses destroyed or partially demolished.
The third tornado killed 100 people in West Virginia, striking hard in Shinnstown because it kept continuous contact with the ground. The last two tornados struck at the edge of West Virginia, as well as Maryland and Delaware, killing five.
For weeks afterward, ironic and miraculous tornado tales whirled around Southwestern Pennsylvania.
Trousers belonging to A. Hensley of Independence were found in a meadow in Deemston. Keenan died when one tornado ripped through his home, but a pair of his pants survived intact, with Keenan's checkbook from Claysville National Bank and some receipts from the George B. Sprowls Hardware store in one pocket.
In Chartiers, a woman looking at the destruction found a piece of paper sticking in the grille of a wrecked automobile. When she pulled it out, she discovered it was a page torn from the Bible. The opening words of the chapter read, "Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind."
Most dramatic of all was the survival of six children from the ages of 4 months to nine years who were left at home while their mother was in Washington doing errands. The Washington Reporter told their tale in the July 1 issue.
The DOMAN family lived at a farm on Buffalo Creek near the YMCA camp and were in the tornado's direct path. Elias Lindley, a neighbor who lived a mile from the farm, rushed to the aid of the family once the tornado had passed.
The two-story brick house was demolished, with only one room on the first floor partially intact. Lindley said he began searching the ruins frantically, afraid the children were dead. But when he crawled through the rubble he "was greeted by a sight he will never forget."
Huddled under a slight barricade formed by the ceiling timbers and a large corner cupboard, Lindley "found six frightened but uninjured children ... in their midst was the 9-year-old girl, who was mothering her brothers and sisters, sitting in a rocking chair with the baby in her arms, rocking it to sleep."
According to the article, every single family belonging had been carried off by the twister, except for the rocking chair and the children. If they had sheltered in any other part of the house they would have been killed.
Norma Grimes, the former librarian of Washington County Historical Society, said that although the tornados caused severe damage, they have faded from many people's memories because so much else was going on at the time. D-Day had occurred just 17 days before and many people saw the tornados as just another struggle they had to survive.
"It was during the war and we didn't have a lot of time to think about it," said Grimes. "We were too busy just trying to make things for the soldiers."
For Polan, however, that experience changed his life. "Through that experience I became a Christian," said Polan, the former executive director of Washington's Youth for Christ, a youth ministry whose chapter he founded in 1958.
Polan had been so frightened during the storm that he had begun saying, "The Lord is my shepherd," which is the 23rd Psalm. Several weeks later, Polan went to the YMCA to see if any of his belongings had been found.
"We got to the last table and they had a table with a bunch of Bibles on it," said Polan. "I had just gotten a brand new Bible (before the tornado)." He was astounded to see his book there, still in its box. However, more remarkable was what he found when he opened the box and looked at the Bible.
"The craziest thing was that I noticed that there was a bump in it," he said. A little twig had blown in the box and gotten trapped in the book--and was marking the 23rd Psalm.
*11th in severity in US history, APPALACHIANS OUTBREAK
June 23, 1944
Affected West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Maryland
Consisted of 4 tornadoes
Caused 153 deaths
Inflicted 846 injuries
Damage $5 million
Occurred from 6:30 pm - 9:30 pm
From http://www.crh.noaa.gov/mkx/?n=torout
Sources:
The Observer-Reporter newspaper, Washington PA, "Sixty years later,
survivors have vivid memories of killer storm." by Sarah E. Core, Staff
Writer. 169th Observer-Reporter Edition, page A-1 and A-2.
The Observer-Reporter newspaper, Washington PA, "Ill wind changed local
man's life: Tornado 54 years ago started Youth For Christ leader on religious
course." Campbell, Christie. Washington, PA: The
Observer-Reporter, June 23, 2004.
The Charleroi Mail newspaper, Charleroi Pa., numerous articles.
Information from ex-Campers.
