The day started off like any other, the scarred and legless old-timer began. It was a sunshiny day in early spring, when so many people awoke to a sense of well-being. Personal prosperity and unprecedented economic growth, along with the enduring effects of a victorious war effort, had awakened in us a sense of pride and invincibility. We did not realize the foolish and arrogant nature of these thoughts, how false our sense of security, until twelve minutes after nine o'clock in the morning - when the Almighty slapped us hard in the face.
On April 16, 1947, two thousand three hundred tons of ammonium nitrate in the number four hold of the former Liberty Ship GRANDCAMP exploded in Galveston Bay, on the banks of the booming industrial town of Texas City, Texas. It obliterated fifty acres, i
