[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 45 (Wednesday, April 16, 1997)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3296-S3297]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         ADDITIONAL STATEMENTS

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               ``REBIRTH'' CELEBRATION IN TEXAS CITY, TX

 Mrs. HUTCHISON. Mr. President, I want to share an important 
day in Texas history--another important day in Texas history--with my 
colleagues.
  Fifty years ago today the worst industrial accident in the history of 
America occurred in Texas City, TX. This morning I was in Texas City 
for a ``rebirth'' celebration the city is hosting. Today, I would like 
to honor those who lost their lives in that terrible tragedy.
  It was a clear and cool spring morning, one described by author 
Elizabeth Lee Wheaton as ``a day when just to be alive felt good.''
  As firefighters worked feverishly to extinguish the flames, this ship 
loaded down with ammonium nitrate exploded. It was 9:22 a.m. within 
moments the ferocious blast had killed 26 firefighters, scores of 
schoolchildren, ruined all the city's fire fighting equipment, and 
demolished the dock area.

[[Page S3297]]

The explosion incinerated ships and businesses. The ship's cargo and 
dock equipment became missiles and were hurled into businesses, houses, 
and public buildings.
  The explosion was so powerful that it registered on a seismograph as 
far away as Denver. One thousand homes and buildings throughout the 
city endured partial or total destruction. An eyewitness described the 
scene as follows: ``For 1,200 feet around the location of the ship, 
metal shards weighing from one pound to five tons crashed down, 
creating geysers of water in the ship channel and landing on nearby 
buildings, killing or injuring the employees inside. Nearly all of the 
people who were on the wharf, including port officials, volunteer 
firefighters, and many ship's crew, disappeared, many never to be 
found.''
  It was not over yet. The S.S. High Flyer was in dock for repairs 
and carried the volatile ammonium nitrate. The first explosion ignited 
the chemicals on the High Flyer and although emergency workers could 
move the ship away from the docks, it exploded just hours later. This 
explosion took the lives of many rescue workers who were pulling bodies 
from the wreckage.

  In all, nearly 600 people were lost. We will never know who many of 
these individuals were, and thousands more were injured, many severely. 
There were many heroes there as well. Many of them. These were the 
4,000 individuals including those from the Red Cross, other volunteer 
organizations, and citizens who put out the fires, comforted the 
casualties while operating temporary hospitals, morgues, and shelters. 
Help came in from all over Texas and from many areas throughout the 
country.
  I was almost 4 years old, riding my tricycle down Larcum Lane in La 
Marque when the S.S. Grandcamp blew in Texas City, just a couple of 
miles from my home. I still remember my fear as if it happened 
yesterday.
  Little did I know then that one of the most horrific tragedies in 
American peacetime history had just occurred; all I knew was that the 
ground shook, my heart beat double-time, and I had to get home.
  Approaching my front yard, I found my mom outside screaming my name. 
She was terrified upon hearing the explosion, feeling the house shake 
and the windows rattle, and not knowing where I was.
  The happy ending is that we found each other. No one in the Bailey 
family of La Marque, TX, was injured in the blast. Such was not so for 
many others, however. Many of my friends grew up without fathers, 
fathers who had been victims of that blast.
  A newspaper headline published 1 year after the tragic explosions 
announced that ``Texas City * * * Rises Phoenix-like From the Abyss of 
Disaster.'' The mass tragedy that killed one in 50 citizens and injured 
1 in 8, tested the unconquerable spirit of the surviving citizens. 
Remember the legend of the Phoenix, which consumed with its own fire, 
raised itself from the ashes after 500 years.

  These resilient people of Texas City would not wait to rise from the 
ashes that surrounded them. Through the anguish and heartbreak of such 
loss, they struggled and shared each others sorrow, refusing to let the 
dreams die. Immediately city leaders tried to restore life to normal--
following the disaster, Sunday church services continued uninterrupted 
and within the following week the civic clubs met as usual.
  As I look at this great city 50 years later, I see the qualities that 
have earned it honors as an all American city. The survivors and their 
children possess the spirit that has rebuilt one of our Nation's great 
industrial complexes. The rich history of Texas City includes being a 
home to the Indians, a prolific 20th century oil boom, and the first 
aerial squadron of the United States. I say to my good friend here, 
Mayor Frank Doyle, I was so proud to see that Readers Digest just 
included you in their list of 1997's top 50 places in America to raise 
a family. Keep up the great work.
  Truly that perfect spring day that became so dark, brought us 
together as never before. The beauty and strength of the human spirit 
endured here and I can feel is just as evident today. That spiritual 
strength in retrospect has changed us all for the better.
  As that new sculpture of the Phoenix is slowly unveiled today in the 
warm Texas sun, the spirit of those heroes will again be felt and 
remembered by all of us. Only now, this wonderful symbol will help us 
express it more eloquently.
  I ask that my colleagues help me in remembering this disaster and 
praying that the victims' families, and those who survived the blast, 
have found peace in the years since.

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