Hemingway's Hurricane

I read everything I can get my hands on about Ernest Hemingway.  This book details Hemingway's involvement in the aftermath of the 1935 Labor Day hurricane that struck the Florida Keys. The book also gives an account of the hurricane and the great destruction and loss of life it caused. 

The country in 1935 was in the middle of the Great Depression. One of the largest groups of people out of work were the World War I veterans. As part of the Public Works for Veterans program many of these men were sent to the Florida Keys to work on construction of the Overseas Highway. 

The men were housed in ramshackle houses and tents in several camps on Windley Key and Lower Matecumbe Key. 

The storm formed as a weak tropical depression on August 29th and slowly moved west. This was 1935 so there was no Weather Channel...no satellites..nothing like we have today. As the storm moved west and then north phenomenal strengthening occured. 

When the storm made landfall in the middle Keys on Monday Sept 2nd it was, and still is the most intense hurricane to make landfall in the United States in recorded history. 

An evacuation train was (finally) dispatched to the Keys to evacuate the Veterans who had no means of escape...but it was too late

Winds in excess of 200 mph and a storm surge of over 18 feet swept over the low lying islands and washed the train off the track. Only the very heavy engine remained on the track. 

Destruction and devastation followed

The next day the news of the tragedy spread

 On the morning after the storm Ernest Hemingway made his way from his Whitehead Street home on Key West on his boat the Pilar up to Islamorada  and was shocked at what he found. He assisted in rescue and relief efforts. It is estimated between and 400 and 600 people died including 259 WWI veterans. Hemingway was incensed with the government's slow response in rescuing the Vets. He wrote several articles about the event. 

A beautiful scale recreation of the Pilar can be found at World Wide Sportsman on Islamorada

An excerpt of one of his articles:

It is not necessary to go into the deaths of the civilians and their families since they were on the Keys of their own free will; They made their living there, had property and knew the hazards involved. But the veterans had been sent there; they had no opportunity to leave, nor any protection against hurricanes; and they never had a chance for their lives. Who sent nearly a thousand war veterans, many of them husky, hard-working and simply out of luck, but many of them close to the border of pathological cases, to live in frame shacks on the Florida Keys in hurricane months?

Hemingway's involvement sparked great debate over who was responsible for the fate of the Vets. 

The Hurricane Monument stands between Mile Markers 81 and 82 on Islamorada. In 1937 the cremated remains of over 300 people killed in the storm were placed within the tiled crypt in front of the monument.

Eventually the Overseas Highway was built...the damage to the railroad was never repaired....

Kennedy Space Center

Last weekend the wife and I made a run over to Cocoa Beach and while there we went to the Space Center. I had not been there in several years and a lot has changed.

The admission fee is $50 which is a bargain. I attempted to get the 55 and over discount of $46 but the attendant demanded to see my ID and even threatened to have me thrown in jail for impersonating an old person....OK none of that is true except the $46 discount.

The rocket garden is near the entrance and in this pic you can see a Mercury rocket on the left, a Gemini rocket in the middle and a Saturn 1B laying on it's side. The difference in the Saturn 1 and the Saturn V is stunning

The Original Seven...the Mercury astronauts. left to right..Scott Carpenter, Gordon Cooper, John Glenn, Gus Grissom, Wally Shirra, Alan Shepard, Deke Slayton...  Trivia question...only one of these men landed on the moon...who is it....answer to come later..

JFK...his speech only 19 days after America put a man in space was the vision that made it all possible...

"I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the earth. "

The Mercury firing room

Mercury capsule

The wife and a Gemini capsule

Space flight is a risky business but this tragedy happened on the ground...the Apollo 1 fire that killed Ed White, Roger Chaffee, and Gus Grissom

But Americans don't quit so on to the moon we went...from right here..launch pad 39A

The Vehicle Assembly Building

The Saturn V display is amazing...only three Saturn V rockets remain today and this one is displayed laying on it's side in stages..it is a remarkable thing to see

An incredible piece of machinery

Apollo 11...man on the moon

The Lunar Excursion Module

The answer to the trivia question...Alan Shepard... America's first man in space was the only one of the Original Seven that landed on the moon

Gene Cernan...the last man on the moon on Apollo 17

The Atlantis exhibit is worth the price of admission by itself

Atlantis made the final shuttle launch...it is amazing to stand this close to it

Still dirty from the trip to space

The black heat shield tiles are white from reentry

Challenger and Columbia crews

Think about it...we went from Kitty Hawk to the Moon in....66 years...we had a great day at the Space Center and it is a worthwhile visit for anyone to make...

Plant Field

Long before Tampa had the modern stadiums and arenas that it has today it had Plant Field. This was Tampa's first athletic facility. Built by Henry B. Plant in 1899 as a recreation area for guests of his luxurious Tampa Bay Hotel, the field hosted horse racing, car racing, football and baseball games and even political rallies.

Plant Field became a spring training facility in 1913 when the Chicago Cubs came to town. It was also used by the Red Sox and Senators in the 1920's and the Tigers in the 1930's

The Cincinnati Reds also trained there from the 1930's to the 1950's. 

On an April afternoon in 1919 a fellow who would go on to hit a record number of home runs hit the longest one of his career that day at Plant Field

The homer hit by Babe Ruth measured 587 feet

A plaque still stands today 

As a boy I remember going to the sprint car races with my father at Plant Field

Red Grange and the Chicago Bears played an exhibition game in 1925

The field hosted the Florida State Fair for many years

Plant Field became obsolete as newer venues were built. First Phillips Field went up across the street. The new Al Lopez Field became spring training's home and Tampa Stadium was built in the late 1960's

Plant Field is now called Pepin Rood Stadium and is part of the University of Tampa's athletic facilities. But a long time ago it was the gem of Tampa's sports scene

Plant Field...a part of Tampa's past...and present