1953

Jan 29, 1953 - Tommy Dorsey will climax 1953 Dimes Drive with dance  at the Main Sports Arena in CAMP ATTERBURY.

Feb 1, 1953 - 434th TCW is deactivated.

Feb 2, 1953 - Colonel Herbert O. Hamilton New Base Commander, succeeding Colonel William S. Pocock, Jr., who has been base CO for the past two years.

Feb 20, 1953 - Group of 27 AWOL's leave CAMP ATTERBURY for Korea in new Get-Tough Army policy.

Feb 25, 1953 - 87th TCW Gets New Designation - Is Now 434th Troop Carrier Wing at Atterbury AFB.  11 Bail Out Safely in Atterbury C-46 Crash

March 3, 1953 - Russian Premier Joseph Stalin died at age 73 after 29 years in power. After his death the Chechens were allowed to return home.

March 6, 1953 - A blinding snowstorm was blamed for the crash of a C-46 cargo plane enroute to Atterbury Air Base from Lowry Air Base at Denver, Colorado.  The plane's three crewmen and eight passengers parachuted to safety in the midst of the blizzard as the plane, on autopilot, circled overhead at 3,000 feet.  An engine failed on the C-46 and it crashed and burned on a farm near Avon, Indiana.

March 10, 1953 - North Korean gunners at Wonsan fired on the USS Missouri, the ship responds by firing 998 rounds at the enemy position.

March 26, 1953 - Dr. Jonas Salk of the University of Pittsburgh announced that a vaccine against polio had been successfully tested in a small group of adults and children. By April 1955, the vaccine had undergone further testing and gained federal approval for public use. Salk's polio vaccine was so successful that by 1961 the incidence of polio had decreased by 95 percent. Dr. Salk visited CAMP ATTERBURY POW camp during WW2.

April 1, 1953 - HQ, VI Army Corps inactivated at CAMP ATTERBURY.

April 17, 1953 - The late Col. Frank W. Wakeman, distinguished medical officer and Pfc. Richard G. Wilson, posthumous Congressional Medal of Honor winner in Korea, will be honored this week when two streets in the hospital area at CAMP ATTERBURY are named for them.  Col. Wakeman, whose wife resides at Valparaiso, Indiana, had a long record of service in the field of medical research.  The present U. S. Army Hospital here was formerly named Wakeman General Hospital in his honor.  Pfc Wilson was an Army medical corpsman, whose actions in August 1951, resulted in his being posthumously awarded the nation's top military decoration.  The newly-named streets, Wakeman Drive and Wilson Road; lie behind Riley and Quinney streets in the Hospital area.  Wakeman being the fist street north of Riley and Wilson the second street north of Riley, between Edinburgh and Hospital Roads.

April 20, 1953 - Maj. Gen Harry J. Collins assumes command of CAMP ATTERBURY.

April 22, 1953 - Col Bradshaw names 434th TCW commander at Atterbury AFB, replacing Col George C. Riley.

May 27, 1953 - First Hoosier POW Returns Home !  On May 8 at 10:20 a.m., Atterbury AFB was the scene of a special "Welcome Home" ceremony.  A1C William A. Hillycord, a native of Columbus, Indiana, arrived here on the last lap of a trip that brought him from a North Korean prison camp.  A1C Hillycord was the first Indiana man to be returned home.

June 6, 1953 - The universality of religion will be vividly exemplified at 11am Saturday at CAMP ATTERBURY, when a simple outdoor chapel built by Italian and German prisoners of war will be re-dedicated by Americans to the war dead of all nations.  The ceremony will be the climax in the colorful history of this decade old house of prayer, commonly known here as the "Chapel in the Meadow", which has caused a great deal of interest since its restoration and renovation by camp personnel last month.

June 19, 1953 - Julius (b.5/12/1918) and Ethel Rosenberg (b.9/28/1915), convicted of passing U.S. atomic secrets to the Soviet Union during World War II, were executed at Sing Sing Prison in Ossining, New York, after the Supreme Court vacated a stay granted by Justice William O. Douglas and President Eisenhower refused to intervene, despite a massive worldwide campaign to free them.

July 22, 1953 - Indiana State asks for use of Army hospital at CAMP ATTERBURY, if base is closed.

July 27, 1953 - An armistice ending fighting in the three-year Korean War was signed by representatives of the United Nations, Korea and China in Panmunjom. General Mark Clark, commander of the UN forces, added his signature to the armistice agreement. Armistice negotiations had begun in July 1951, when the outlook for reunifying North and South Korea became bleak, and fighting continued. The cease-fire provided for an exchange of prisoners of war and established a 2 1/2 mile wide demilitarized zone and a demarcation line at the 38th parallel. Not all aspects of the agreement, however, were finalized-the UN Commission for the Unification and Rehabilitation of Korea was not suspended until 1977. N. Korea measures 46,540 sq. miles, its population in 1974 was ~15 million people. 33,651 Americans had died.

Aug 12, 1953 - The Soviet Union conducted a secret test of its first hydrogen bomb.

Sept 6, 1953 - The last American and Korean prisoners were exchanged in Operation Big Switch, the last official act of the Korean War.

Oct 30, 1953 - Gen. George C. Marshall was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

Nov

Dec 4, 1953 - World famous Trapp Family Singers entertain at CAMP ATTERBURY.  The Trapp family chorus is composed of a widow, Mrs. Tanie Trapp, her five daughters and two sons, and is conducted by the family's priest and musical director, Father Franz Wasner.  Mr. Trapp died a few years ago.

Dec 31, 1953 - 43,000 signatures on petition to keep CAMP ATTERBURY open.  Administrative plan submitted for the movement of the 31st Division to Camp Carson, Colorado.