[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 6]
[House]
[Pages 7113-7114]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




    ANNIVERSARY OF THE 1937 NATURAL GAS TRAGEDY OF NEW LONDON, TEXAS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Texas (Mr. Gohmert) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. GOHMERT. Mr. Speaker, March 18 will mark the 72nd anniversary of 
what freshly graduated newscaster Walter Cronkite called the ``worst 
school disaster in American history.'' I stand before the House today 
to commemorate those students and educators who so tragically lost 
their lives that afternoon as well as to encourage the survivors.
  The 1930s saw many families in East Texas with hope as they fought to 
regain what had been lost in so many parts of the country during the 
Great Depression.

                              {time}  1615

  With the discovery of oil in northern Rusk County, the City of New 
London, Texas, boasted one of the richest rural

[[Page 7114]]

school districts in America. They had just built a state-of-the-art 
school that would make any school district envious.
  But at approximately 3:18 p.m. on March 18, 1937, many of those same 
families would lose forever the promise of youth while east Texans and 
people around the world would bear the pain of losing a community's 
entire generation.
  It was on that date, at that time, the New London school did become 
the site of the worst school disaster in American history. In those 
days, natural gas had no odor. That odorless gas started leaking from a 
tap line and accumulated in the massive crawl space beneath the school 
building.
  In an instant, a spark from a sanding machine in the basement ignited 
the gas, creating an explosion heard miles away. Witnesses said the 
building was lifted into the air.
  When it came crashing down, its victims were buried in a mass of 
steel, concrete, brick and debris. Frantic parents, neighbors, oil-
field roughnecks, and volunteers around the State ranging from Boy 
Scouts to Texas Rangers converged on the devastating scene. Many dug 
with nothing but their bare hands.
  Men, women and children worked all through the night battling rain, 
fatigue and unimaginable grief. They worked to reach those buried 
underneath the mountain of twisted metal. Within 17 hours, all of the 
debris had been heroically removed, and all victims had been located.
  A cenotaph, a tall monument, stands silently in New London across 
from the disaster site bearing the names of the 296 students, teachers 
and visitors who instantly lost their lives. The subsequent death count 
from injuries sustained that day brought the final count to 311.
  Within weeks, the Texas legislature passed a law requiring that an 
odor be added to natural gas. That practice quickly spread worldwide, 
saving countless lives in the aftermath of that devastating loss. Now 
the odor added to natural gas is unmistakable and allows anyone to know 
instantly there is a leak requiring caution and repair.
  This weekend we will have a formal observance, and it will be my 
honor to be with those amazing people of New London, Texas. We will pay 
tribute to those hundreds of young lives whose faces were full of hope 
and promise one moment, yet left lifeless moments later.
  We will also honor those who heroically fought to rescue the victims, 
while we lend sympathy to those who bore the burden of tragic loss. We 
also honor those who have survived that day when their lives were 
forever changed.
  May God bless their memory, may God heal the wounded memories, and 
may God bless those who have carried on in New London, Texas, ever 
since that heartbreaking day.

                          ____________________