WEST LAFAYETTE -- No ceremony will be conducted to mark the event, but many county residents will think about a local tragedy on Sunday.

It was the early morning hours of Sept. 11, 1950, when two trains collided on the railroad track near the Harry Shurtz farm, just east of the West Lafayette village corporation limit.

One of the trains was carrying 655 members of the 28th Pennsylvania National Guard to boot camp in Camp Atterbury, Ind. At the time, the U.S. was involved in the Korean War.

Articles in the Coshocton Tribune on Sept. 12, 1950, and the days afterward tell of the catastrophe in which 33 National Guardsmen died.

The troop train had stopped because of brake problems, when about 4:15 a.m. the Spirit of St. Louis passenger train with 240 people on board collided with it.

When the debris was cleared and the dust settled, 33 soldiers were dead, and many more were injured.

Area residents stepped up to donate blood, provide food and wrote notes and letters to families of survivors.

A memorial dedicated to those who died in the crash has been located at the intersection of North Kirk Street and the railroad since 1990.

Ed Chapdelaine and Marty Glazier, who maintain the site, said there won't be any type of ceremony this year on the 61st anniversary of the collision. Ceremonies are conducted every five years, however.