The troop train stopped for repairs on the tracks outside Coshocton, Ohio. Aboard were members of the 109th Field Artillery Battalion, Wilkes-Barre. The day was Sept. 11, 1950, and the citizen soldiers were on their way to the Camp Atterbury training facility in Indiana. They were one of the first National Guard units called to active duty in the Korean conflict.

At 6:15 a.m., the Spirit of St. Louis, a passenger train of the Pennsylvania Railroad, collided with the troop train. Thirty-three soldiers were killed.

A family spokesman for Sgt. Fred Mendicini of Carbondale relayed to The Scranton Times the report that the passenger train had been following the troop train. The troop train had made "frequent stops" since it left Pittsburgh. When the troop train stopped for repairs, Sgt. Mendicini had learned, a flagman was sent to flag down the Spirit of St. Louis. But a heavy fog shrouded the area.

Sgt. Mendicini had been asleep in a coach near the middle of the troop train at the time of the collision and had not even felt it. Most of the others on board had been asleep, too.

Near the rear of the troop train, Capt. Robert J. Brennan of Carbondale could hear the passenger train bearing down on them. He reported that he "dashed through the train yelling to the other officers and men to fall to the floor. I pulled a lot of them down with me. But it happened so fast we couldn't prevent casualties from happening," he said. His quick thinking likely saved lives.

The engineer of the passenger train applied his brakes but could not avoid a collision. A steam engine pulled the troop train, and a diesel pushed it. The diesel engine smashed the last car of the troop train. The car just ahead of the last coach was hurled into the air. It landed crosswise onto the third car. Several other cars were telescoped by the impact. The pushing diesel plunged over a 15-foot embankment.

Sgt. Joseph Warhola of Simpson was in the 12th car from the rear when the crash occurred. "I had just gone into the washroom," he reported. "There was a slight impact, then a terrible crash. Men were thrown all over the car I was on," he said.

Most of the men who were killed had been asleep in the rear car. Many were thrown from the car upon impact. Some were trapped, and rescue workers got to them using acetylene torches. Those men who had escaped injury set to work getting the injured to waiting ambulan�ces. Officers praised the men for their efforts.

The Red Cross sent an emergency mobile unit to the scene and set up aid stations. The dark and fog made rescue efforts difficult. Yet, within 30 minutes after the collision, five ambulances loaded with injured soldiers arrived at the Coshocton Hospital. Others were taken to hospitals in nearby towns.

Two days after the accident, a hearing was held in Pittsburgh to investigate the cause of the tragedy. At that hearing, Engineer William Eller admitted his train was "going too fast."

Back home on Sept. 14, more than 3,000 people - parents, wives, children - waited at the Lehigh Valley station as a diesel engine pulled the funeral coaches into the terminal. Silence fell over those who had gathered. At 1:25 p.m., a sergeant snapped his command: "Attention." The honor guard obeyed. The first door on the first railroad coach opened to reveal a casket draped in an American flag.

"These men all died in the line of duty," said Gov. James Duff. "They gave their lives as much for their country as their comrades who have fallen in Korea." They were buried with the same honors of those who gave their lives in battle.