Showing posts with label shorebirds. Show all posts
Showing posts with label shorebirds. Show all posts

Friday, August 14, 2020

2020 Jul 22, History of Cullman, Alabama & The "Katy-Did" Crash

Hubby and I spent several hours doing business in Cullman, when we finished, we rode through the Historic area in Cullman, where we saw several murals that represented Cullman in the 1880s.

Dinclkelberg's The Santa Clause Store

City Fire Station & Kullman's Hall

DT Kinney Horse & Mules 

Cullman County Historical Society

We took a different route home and came across a historic marker;

 "The "Katy~Did" Crash"
70 years after the 'Katy-Did' fell out of the north Alabama sky, the memorial honors 8 who died


The "Katy-Did" Crash 

Eight U.S. Army Air Corps officers and enlisted men were killed one-fourth mile east of here near the Roundtop Community on Sunday, April 9, 1944, at 2:20 p.m. when their B-26C Martin Marauder bomber, nicknamed the "Katy-Did," crashed nose-down, at full throttle, and exploded. The warplane was on an official flight from Hunter Army Airfield in Savannah, Georgia, to Memphis, Tennessee, when it encountered a severe thunderstorm. Witnesses reported that the plane reappeared from the heavy storm clouds upside down before crashing.

The victims were: 

Col. Lucius B. Manning, base commander, Hunter Army Airfield, Savannah, Georgia; 

Capt. Howard L. Hardy, pilot, La Harpe, Kansas; 

Capt. Arthur J. Gratis, co-pilot, Seattle, Washington; 

Sgt. John W. Haney, engineer, Buffalo, New York; 

Pvt. Matthew J. Geoghegan, mechanic, Bronx, New York; 

Pvt. John H. Bailey, radioman, Trenton, New Jersey; 

Sgt. James R. Smith, St. Maire, Idaho; 

1st Lt. Hugh Williams, Jr., Megehee, Arkansas.

We saw an Eagle perched on a power pole as we neared Wheeler Dam. 

Along the bank of the Tennessee River below Wheeler Dam, we saw these shorebirds.



2024 Christmas Journal Activies

 Merry Christmas and Happy New Year  To all my friends and family Hope this year brought you lots of health and happiness.  Just a recap ...