Hide Article Text (OCR)
Away From HomeA former Commerce man wrote The East Texan of his experience of “covering a story from a height of 13,500 feet lying flat on his stomach in the tail gunner's position of a B-25 Billy Mitchell. The reporter, Sgt. Joe Woosley, said, The belching Vesuvius, completely overcast with white flakey clouds, was shooting billowing columns of smoke 'thousands o f feet higher than our airplane. The black smoke, climbing skyward in a volume that would make a three-alarm fire look petty in comparison, trailed miles and miles to the south. The smoke’s height was estimated to be in excess of 25,000 feet We circled lazily around Vesuvius, taking pictures and commenting on the beauty of the spectacle. Capt. Isaacson lowered the |h j aircraft down through a tiny hole e 1 in the overcast. We emerged in a a blinding sun, and there we could | see the full fury of the streams of “d lava flowing downward toward i-\ the sea. Church steeples and tops ■ rs of two-story rock buildings could e- be seen protruding above the black, i steaming lava. The lava, orange- j hot near the crest of the mountain,! ended abruptly in the outskirts of another village and there the :*d *molten rock appeared to be at n- | least 30 to 40 feet thick. Italians, c-j reluctant to leave their homes, ■st were standing nearby watching se and praying that their pitiful hom-i es would be miraculously saved. Despite the feeling of pity for the id ( poor Italians watching their hom-r- | es being submerged by the lava, ite the beauty of the scene couldn’t P escape me The surging flow of the m,1 lava, the great columns of smoke, and the gigantic destruction the ■ds erupting volcano was causing j eclipsed all thoughts of the hopeless struggle being waged by the Italians.”1-
Newspaper Details
Alpine Skyline
Alpine, Texas, US
Wed, May 10, 1944
Page 2
Full Page
Clipped by
Betty H.
USA 21 Sep 2023
Other Publications Near Alpine, Texas
Alpine Avalanche
Alpine Sul Ross Skyline
Alpine Skyline
