(From p.1 of the El Paso Herald-Post, Monday afternoon, July 16, 1945)
Army Ammunition Explosion Rocks Southwest Area
Great Blast Near San Marcial Lights El Paso
An ammunition magazine containing a considerable amount of high explosives and pyrotechnics exploded at 5:30 a.m. in the New Mexico desert near San Marcial on a remote section of the Alamogordo Air Base reservation.
No one was hurt.
The blast was seen and felt throughout an area extending from El Paso to Silver City to Gallup, Socorro and Albuquerque.
Many persons saw a flash light up the sky, like daylight, and felt earth tremors. They thought an earthquake had struck.
William O. Eareckson, commanding officer of the Alamogordo Air Base, released the following statement:
“Several inquiries have been received concerning a heavy explosion which occurred on the Alamogordo Air Base reservation this morning.
“A remotely located ammunition magazine containing a considerable amount of high explosives and pyrotechnics exploded.
“There was no loss of life or injury to anyone, and the property damage outside the explosives magazine itself was negligible.
“Weather conditions affecting the content of gas shells exploded by the blast may make it desirable for the Army to evacuate temporarily a few civilians from their homes.”
El Paso men going to work at 5:30 a.m. said the flash illuminated Mt. Franklin. E.R. Carpenter, Louie Ratliff and Jack Coulehan, riding down Alabama avenue, said the whole sky was ablaze with light. Mr. Carpenter, mechanical superintendent of the Newspaper Printing Corporation, said many persons called the newspaper’s composing room to report seeing the flash and hearing the explosion. Callers asked if a meteor had fallen.
Big Light in Sky
L.R. Lessell, Gila forest headquarters supervisor, said rangers reported the shock was felt throughout the Mogollon mountains.
Rangers at Chloride reported the blast lighted the sky brightly in the area of San Marcial. The blast was followed by a terrific explosion, like a detonation, rangers said.
Forest rangers, believing that an earthquake had struck, checked with Alfred E. Moore at the Smithsonian Observatory on Burro mountain. The observatory is near Tyrone and 800 feet high.
Mr. Moore confirmed the flash, saying it was distinctly visible at the observatory, but the shock was unlike earthquake vibrations. The observatory head has experienced earthquakes in South America and Mexico.
Silver City Shaken
Silver City residents reported three distinct blasts were felt there. The shock cracked plate glass windows in downtown buildings.
“The blasts sounded like heavy claps of thunder,” Don Lusk of Silver City, said. “Houses shook. People were roused out of sleep from the noise and tremors.”
Mrs. H.E. Wieselman of 901 North Ochoa street saw the explosion as she crossed the Arizona-New Mexico state line. She was enroute to El Paso from California.
“We had just left Safford, and it was still dark,” Mrs. Wieselman said. “Suddenly the tops of high mountains by which we were passing were lighted up by a reddish, orange light.
“The surrounding countryside was illuminated like daylight for about three seconds.
“Then it was dark again.
“The experience scared me. It was just like the sun had come up and gone down again.”
Front Seat at Sky Show
Ed Lane, Santa Fe railroad engineer, was at Belen, N.M., when the blast occurred.
He said he had a front seat to the greatest fireworks show he had ever seen. The blast was in the direction of San Marcial and seemed to be only a few miles from Belen.
“I was coming to El Paso,” Mr. Lane said. “My engine was standing still. All at once it seemed as if the sun had suddenly appeared in the sky out of darkness. There was a tremendous white flash. This was followed by a great red glare and high in the sky were three tremendous smoke rings. The highest was many hundreds of feet high. They swirled and twisted as if being agitated by a great force. The glare lasted about three minutes and then everything was dark again with dawn breaking in the east.”
“I was coming to El Paso,” Mr. Lane said. “My engine was standing still. All at once it seemed as if the sun had suddenly appeared in the sky out of darkness. There was a tremendous white flash. This was followed by a great red glare and high in the sky were three tremendous smoke rings. The highest was many hundreds of feet high. They swirled and twisted as if being agitated by a great force. The glare lasted about three minutes and then everything was dark again with dawn breaking in the east.”
I copied this article sometime in the early 1990s by hand (pencil and paper) from the original July 16, 1945 El Paso Herald-Post in the bound newspaper archives of the Barker Center for Texas History at the University of Texas at Austin. In May1994, I used it as an appendix to a paper I wrote ("Zero Patience for Zero Hour") for a History of the Atomic Bomb class taught by Bruce Hunt. Here are some other front-page Herald-Post headlines from July 16, 1945:
450 Super-Forts Heap 2500 Tons of Fire on Japan
Woman Happy as She Gets Back Lost $1480
Ice Cream Firm Owner Freezes to Death in Plant
Capitalizing on Prejudice, Nationalist Party Drives for Control of Government
B-29 Crew Throws Man to Safety from 9000 Feet
