The Galveston County Daily News

TEXAS CITY — When the fire alarm sounded 60 years ago, Mattie Lou Westmorland didn’t think much of her husband rushing out the door. Even as Marion took off to answer the fire call, Mattie Lou figured he would be home for supper.

He never returned.

“Oh, no, we never thought something bad would happen. He was used to fighting fires,” she said.

But the fires Marion was used to fighting were house fires; the Texas City volunteer fire brigade didn’t have much experience battling industrial-type fires.

“I knew it was a big fire. From our house, we could see all that black and orange smoke coming up from the docks,” recalled Westmorland, who later remarried and changed her name to Mattie Lou Westmorland Higgs.

Below that black and orange smoke was Marion, who was called Jack by his fellow fire fighters.

On the morning of April 16, 1947, as Marion Westmorland and the rest of the Texas City fire brigade battled a ship fire at the docks of the Texas City Terminal Railway Co., a photographer decided to snap a picture. It would prove to be the last image of the fire fighters as every member of the fire department was killed when the French cargo ship Grandcamp exploded.

“That’s him holding the hose,” Westmorland-Higgs said noting her late husband in the foreground of the now infamous photo. Just behind him is fire chief Henry Baumgartner.

Not long after that photo was taken, the Grandcamp’s load of ammonia nitrate exploded, laying waste to the dock area as well as much of the nearby Monsanto refinery.

Marion Westmorland and the 27 other members of the Texas City fire department were among the almost 600 people killed that day in the blast.

“When he didn’t come home right away, that’s when I knew something bad had happened to him,” said Westmorland-Higgs.

It may have been 60 years since that tragic day, but Westmorland-Higgs said the memories of April 16 would never fade. Even at 92 years old, she said the emotions of that day still resonate as fresh as ever.

Nothing ever experienced before

Like Marion Westmorland and the rest of the Texas City firefighters, those responding to the 1947 blasts of the Grandcamp and High Flyer, were in uncharted territory. No place in the country — let alone the small community of Texas City — had ever experienced such a large-scale industrial disaster.

The same could be said for the members of the local chapter of Red Cross.

Ruth Kempner, one of the Red Cross volunteers who responded to the Texas City Disaster, recalled how difficult the task was for her and a handful of other volunteers who responded to the ship blasts.

Coming off World War II, the Red Cross’ resources were already spread thin when the Texas City Disaster occurred. The shear devastation and human suffering proved too much for the local chapter to handle alone, even with the assistance of the Houston, Beaumont, Port Arthur and Freeport chapters of the Red Cross, more were needed.

Red Cross volunteers from across the country flooded into Texas City, some brought by a plane provided by Monsanto.

At one point, thousands of Red Cross volunteers responded to the disaster.

Shelters were set up wherever a spare building could be found within a 50-mile radius. At one point, more than 4,000 people were sheltered in Red Cross shelters.

Still, for many of those who survived the explosions, the Red Cross response was remembered more for what it lacked than what it provided.

“We waited for days before we talked to the first Red Cross person,” recalled 1947 survivor Billie Lambert. “They were just too slow in responding to the needs of people in this city.”

Among survivors, Lambert isn’t alone in that thought process.

The challenges for the Red Cross were enormous. Because of the city’s rapid growth, there was not an accurate listing of the residents. Even the local phone book was out of date at the time of the blasts.

Housing assistance was slow, in large part, because Texas City was already undergoing a housing shortage — again because of its rapid growth. In fact, the first residents to receive new housing thanks to the Red Cross didn’t move in until June, three months after the explosions.

And, too, the Red Cross realized its shortcomings in reacting to the Texas City and used its response to the disaster as a massive learning experience to deal with future relief responses.

Much of what it includes today in its disaster relief training was learned in large part because of the response to the Texas City Disaster.

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WHAT: Texas City Disaster commemoration

WHEN: 9 a.m. today

WHERE: Texas City Memorial Park, 29th Street and Loop 197 North

ON THE AGENDA: Fletcher Harris, a crewmember of the Coast Guard Cutter Iris, recalls the crew’s effort to respond to the Texas City disaster. To read more from others who served aboard the Iris see Tuesday’s edition of The Daily News.

ON THE WEB: To see survivor videos, go to khou.com/topstories/stories/ khou070415_tj_tcdisasterimages.124333b8.html