John W. Morris
had a lead and a trailing vehicle with radios. In minutes not only the Corps but the police were
there, and helicopters from Fort Benning began to arrive.
I was the senior military person. Major [Gary] Lord, a Corps officer from the office of
Legislative Liaison, accompanied the congressmen. So we had
Cross, Lord, and
Morris from the Corps. We had the congressional group plus Secretary
and wife.
Congressman Tom Bevill had been sitting in front with his wife, and when the impact
occurred the bus door flew open. I understand he just sort of slid out underneath of the little
railing in front of the first seat and outside the door. I think he had a couple of broken ribs,
but he was lucky. Mrs. Bevill was shaken up but not hurt. I immediately told Cross, who was
in pretty good shape, and Lord, who had a bad cut on his leg but was mobile, to have the men
with their wives sit on the ground beside each other so that the wives and the husbands would
go to the same place when the ambulances arrived.
Then we began to inventory the damage. Mrs. Nichols from Alabama had a seriously broken
ankle. The aide men put one of those plastic air-inflated emergency splints on her. We finally
got everyone out, paired up, and sitting on the side of the road in a drizzling rain, dazed. The
inside of the bus was covered with debris, shoes, purses, et cetera. It looked like a war zone.
Mrs.
while standing, talking to her husband, suddenly looked like she was going to
collapse. She was laid on a stretcher and as soon as possible, onto an Army helicopter with
the secretary and myself. By the time the helicopter came, everything was about as orderly as
we could get it thanks to Major Lord and Colonel Cross.
was left behind with
instructions to be sure everybody in the military got to the hospital and received a physical
checkup.
Because I was in uniform and
was in civilian clothes, the
were giving me the
attention. I explained that the other two passengers were the Secretary of the Army and his
wife. That took care of any concern for me!
Once at the hospital, I wanted to report the accident. Having worked in Legislative Liaison,
I had some feeling for how this all worked, so I told the operator to get me the White House
on the phone. She was kind of funny because she said, "We don't have a White House at Fort
Benning." I said, "No, I want the one in Washington." After a brief gasp she did a fine job.
The phone was answered by Jack Marsh, who later became Secretary of the Army. This was
President [Gerald] Ford's Administration, of course. I told Mr. Marsh about the accident and
that I wanted to be sure he heard from me before it was on the television and on the radio. I
reported we had two people killed and we had some serious injuries but it looked like the
congressmen and the ladies would be all right. Congressman Bevill was in the hospital along
with Congressman Flynt and Congressman Jones. Flowers was okay, as I recall. I retold Mr.
Marsh that the secretary was all right and that Mrs. Callaway's back was bothering her. At any
rate, I reported all this to Mr. Marsh and he thanked me.
Within five minutes, the phone rang. It was President Ford. I talked to him a moment, then put
Secretary
on.
We finally got to our lodgings near the dam late that evening. Having been assigned to
Savannah District years before, I still knew many people who were there. They had had
certain things planned for us that evening, which didn't occur, but we did have the dedication
the next day. The secretary was quite sore, as most people were, but the dedication occurred
as scheduled.
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