*In 1967 wanting so bad to become a writer for a newspaper ,I sit down and wrote this article . it was just one of the many articles I ever wrote that was published by a newspaper. I have updated this article over the years , and have talked to many of the survivors by telephone or by email. I also wrote a song in 1967 from this article titled "The Silver Tragedy " telling of the nite 44 years ago that Lena Mae Rake just happened to look out her window ..
Around 5:pm . the evening of December 15. 1967 . 44 years ago. Lena Mae Rake ,68,of Kanuga. Ohio, just happened to look out her window about supper time" when she saw the Silver Bridge ,which linked her hometown with Point Pleasants,Wva.collapse 100 feet into the Ohio River below. forty cars and 17 trucks were hurtled into the river along with 46 men,women and children .
Ambulances came from as far as 50 miles away that cold evening-18 people were rescued by boat out of the river and another 13 people who witnessed the tragedy from the banks of the river had to be treated for shock.
Some bodies remained trapped for several days, even weeks,inside submerged vehicles pinned to the bottom of the river by heavy ,twisted beams of steel and concrete.
The 50 Coast Guard divers called to help could do little, The force of the river's current pushed them away. Large cranes also were unable to lift vehicles out of the water because of the river's strenght. Twenty -three-boats -two sonar boats,16 craft with gripping hooks, four dredges and a towboat ---were on hand to help, making continuous sweeps of a 2000 foot stretch of the river.
The bridge was constructed in 1928 and renovated right after World War II .It was last inspected by the West Virginia Department of Highways and Bridges two years before the collapse. For 39 years, it served as a main artery from Ohio to West Virginia but it was not designed for the heavy traffic of the 1960s.Huge trucks crossed the bridge daily and hundreds of cars filled with people crossing the bridge to work ,to shop or just visit friend;s, The next nearest bridge was 50 miles up river.
Mrs.Artie Rake daughter-in law of Lena Mae Rake who i later interviewed again in the late 1980s by telephone, tells me that Lena Mae Rake died in 1979 She said her mother -in-law- never did get over that terrifying nite December 15,1967, and had night-mares for 12 years, She said she knew the bridge would fall one day because it shook so bad when cars crossed it.
The afternoon of the tragedy , the traffic light on the Ohio side of the bridge was malfunctioning . It was stuck on green and the traffic along Ohio 7 was creeping along in confusion, Traffic was backing up in both directions and at 5:pm the bridge was laden with slow-moving cars and trucks, The light in the past was known to stay red so long that regular users of the bridge learned to ignore it , Running the light was common practice.
The night the bridge fell traffic was bumper to bumper. At one end of the bridge four semi tractor trailers sat bumper to bumper.
When the bridge fell. Lena Mae told me she was fixing supper when her home , located near the bridge ,began vibrating, She gathered up her 3 year -old daughter and ran to the basement ,looking out the window toward the bridge.when she realized the bridge was sinking .She ran to the river where hundreds of people gathered. She wondered if her brother was on the bridge returning from work.She learned later he was not. Lena"s Family told me in later years she was never able to look out that window again,
Frank Wamsley ,61 of Point Pleasants ,Wva A 28 year old truck driver at the time . remembered crossing the bridge that night in his gravel truck on his way home from work. He remembers waving to his cousin and her husband for the last time as they were coming up the other lane of the bridge in their 1955 Pontiac. Just ahead of him on the bridge was his uncle Marvin Wamsley whom he also waved to for the last time . Suddenly the entire bridge fell into the water. This time was 5:04 p.m , He still remembers seeing the bridge tilt sharply in front of him. right before it fell, and suddenly water was all around him. He said he went all the way to the bottom of the river in his truck that night. For a minute he didn;t think he would make it . "finally I got out , he said . He came to the surface and caught hold of something to hold on to. He was picked up when a boat pulled alongside him. He found he couldn't move his legs and had to be helped abroad. His back was fractured in the fall.
Howard Boggs ,57 of Porter.Ohio was 24 years old at the time . His wife Marjorie ,19.and his 18 month-old- daughter Kristy Ann ,were on the bridge going to Kanuga when the bridge began to shake up and down. All of a sudden he remembers going to the right of the bridge in his car "I dont know how I got out of the car ,"he said. He was unable to swim but was rescued minutes later by a boat from the City Ice & Fuel Company, His wife and daughter never made it.
Bill Needham 60 ,of Ashboro , N.C. ,was 27 years old and driving a tractor trailer when the bridge fell, He remembers going into the water. Somehow. he managed to force open a window and get out. His partner., Robert Towe ,never surfaced .
Paul Scott .of Middleport .Ohio .was riding with two co-workers that evening across the bridge and told them he wanted to get out of the car. He said he had a feeling the bridge was going to fall. He got out of the car and held onto the bridge as it was coming down. He escaped with only cuts and bruises. His two co-workers , James Pullen and Fred Miller , were both killed when concrete fell from the bridge , smashing the top of the car flat and sent it into the river.
Ronald Moore of Gallipolis.,Ohio. was 23 and a student at Ohio University and was riding across the bridge in a taxi driven by Leo Sanders . When both bodies were brought to the surface. Moore was still clutching a $1 bill in his hand ,
* Nearly a week before the Silver Bridge collapsed. a stone-mason . noted in Point Pleasant as an alcoholic ,wobbled down Main Street announcing to everyone 'That old bridge is going to fall down . No one in Point Pleasants believed him, The bridge fell within a week.
About a half hour before the bridge collapsed, Floyd Forbus of Point Pleasants was returning home from work in Kanuga, As he neared the Ohio Tower he noticed a large bolt on the roadway. It was a one-inch bolt. When I first saw it he said . I thought it could be off the bridge. Then I said to myself . No ,it's not big enought. On Christmas Day I went to the piers on the West Virginia side and looked at the bolts on the plates which cover the eye-bar connections, Sure enought it was,
Readers- for 44 years now. there has never a christmas that goes by that I and so many others are reminded of the 46 men. women. and children who lost their lives on the Silver Bridge in Point Pleasants W.va on December 15. 1967. It was the same month and year my twin brother's body was found buried in a shallow grave in Pleasants County W.va after being murdered by convicted felon Jack Hart ,
Around 5:pm . the evening of December 15. 1967 . 44 years ago. Lena Mae Rake ,68,of Kanuga. Ohio, just happened to look out her window about supper time" when she saw the Silver Bridge ,which linked her hometown with Point Pleasants,Wva.collapse 100 feet into the Ohio River below. forty cars and 17 trucks were hurtled into the river along with 46 men,women and children .
Ambulances came from as far as 50 miles away that cold evening-18 people were rescued by boat out of the river and another 13 people who witnessed the tragedy from the banks of the river had to be treated for shock.
Some bodies remained trapped for several days, even weeks,inside submerged vehicles pinned to the bottom of the river by heavy ,twisted beams of steel and concrete.
The 50 Coast Guard divers called to help could do little, The force of the river's current pushed them away. Large cranes also were unable to lift vehicles out of the water because of the river's strenght. Twenty -three-boats -two sonar boats,16 craft with gripping hooks, four dredges and a towboat ---were on hand to help, making continuous sweeps of a 2000 foot stretch of the river.
The bridge was constructed in 1928 and renovated right after World War II .It was last inspected by the West Virginia Department of Highways and Bridges two years before the collapse. For 39 years, it served as a main artery from Ohio to West Virginia but it was not designed for the heavy traffic of the 1960s.Huge trucks crossed the bridge daily and hundreds of cars filled with people crossing the bridge to work ,to shop or just visit friend;s, The next nearest bridge was 50 miles up river.
Mrs.Artie Rake daughter-in law of Lena Mae Rake who i later interviewed again in the late 1980s by telephone, tells me that Lena Mae Rake died in 1979 She said her mother -in-law- never did get over that terrifying nite December 15,1967, and had night-mares for 12 years, She said she knew the bridge would fall one day because it shook so bad when cars crossed it.
The afternoon of the tragedy , the traffic light on the Ohio side of the bridge was malfunctioning . It was stuck on green and the traffic along Ohio 7 was creeping along in confusion, Traffic was backing up in both directions and at 5:pm the bridge was laden with slow-moving cars and trucks, The light in the past was known to stay red so long that regular users of the bridge learned to ignore it , Running the light was common practice.
The night the bridge fell traffic was bumper to bumper. At one end of the bridge four semi tractor trailers sat bumper to bumper.
When the bridge fell. Lena Mae told me she was fixing supper when her home , located near the bridge ,began vibrating, She gathered up her 3 year -old daughter and ran to the basement ,looking out the window toward the bridge.when she realized the bridge was sinking .She ran to the river where hundreds of people gathered. She wondered if her brother was on the bridge returning from work.She learned later he was not. Lena"s Family told me in later years she was never able to look out that window again,
Frank Wamsley ,61 of Point Pleasants ,Wva A 28 year old truck driver at the time . remembered crossing the bridge that night in his gravel truck on his way home from work. He remembers waving to his cousin and her husband for the last time as they were coming up the other lane of the bridge in their 1955 Pontiac. Just ahead of him on the bridge was his uncle Marvin Wamsley whom he also waved to for the last time . Suddenly the entire bridge fell into the water. This time was 5:04 p.m , He still remembers seeing the bridge tilt sharply in front of him. right before it fell, and suddenly water was all around him. He said he went all the way to the bottom of the river in his truck that night. For a minute he didn;t think he would make it . "finally I got out , he said . He came to the surface and caught hold of something to hold on to. He was picked up when a boat pulled alongside him. He found he couldn't move his legs and had to be helped abroad. His back was fractured in the fall.
Howard Boggs ,57 of Porter.Ohio was 24 years old at the time . His wife Marjorie ,19.and his 18 month-old- daughter Kristy Ann ,were on the bridge going to Kanuga when the bridge began to shake up and down. All of a sudden he remembers going to the right of the bridge in his car "I dont know how I got out of the car ,"he said. He was unable to swim but was rescued minutes later by a boat from the City Ice & Fuel Company, His wife and daughter never made it.
Bill Needham 60 ,of Ashboro , N.C. ,was 27 years old and driving a tractor trailer when the bridge fell, He remembers going into the water. Somehow. he managed to force open a window and get out. His partner., Robert Towe ,never surfaced .
Paul Scott .of Middleport .Ohio .was riding with two co-workers that evening across the bridge and told them he wanted to get out of the car. He said he had a feeling the bridge was going to fall. He got out of the car and held onto the bridge as it was coming down. He escaped with only cuts and bruises. His two co-workers , James Pullen and Fred Miller , were both killed when concrete fell from the bridge , smashing the top of the car flat and sent it into the river.
Ronald Moore of Gallipolis.,Ohio. was 23 and a student at Ohio University and was riding across the bridge in a taxi driven by Leo Sanders . When both bodies were brought to the surface. Moore was still clutching a $1 bill in his hand ,
* Nearly a week before the Silver Bridge collapsed. a stone-mason . noted in Point Pleasant as an alcoholic ,wobbled down Main Street announcing to everyone 'That old bridge is going to fall down . No one in Point Pleasants believed him, The bridge fell within a week.
About a half hour before the bridge collapsed, Floyd Forbus of Point Pleasants was returning home from work in Kanuga, As he neared the Ohio Tower he noticed a large bolt on the roadway. It was a one-inch bolt. When I first saw it he said . I thought it could be off the bridge. Then I said to myself . No ,it's not big enought. On Christmas Day I went to the piers on the West Virginia side and looked at the bolts on the plates which cover the eye-bar connections, Sure enought it was,
Readers- for 44 years now. there has never a christmas that goes by that I and so many others are reminded of the 46 men. women. and children who lost their lives on the Silver Bridge in Point Pleasants W.va on December 15. 1967. It was the same month and year my twin brother's body was found buried in a shallow grave in Pleasants County W.va after being murdered by convicted felon Jack Hart ,
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