On Feb 28, 1958, in Prestonsburg Kentucky , a school bus
loaded with children ran off the road into a flooded river. From what I
understand, the stream was normally very shallow, but was flooding at
the time of the accident. I was 13 years old at the time, but remember
it very well. My brother was in the National Guard (Danville, KY Unit) ,
and his unit was called to the rescue/recovery, as were many other units
around the state. When they pulled the bus up, 26 children and the
driver had drowned. The recovery of bodies took weeks of dragging the
river, as the water was swift, and the water temperature was very cold.
It’s said to have been the worst school bus tragedy in history.
W. C. Burchett wrote a song about this tragedy, and
folk/country singer Ralph Bowman recorded it. Folks, it’s a real tear
jerker. I get chills to this day when I hear this song, and when I think
about this tragic accident and what the parents of the children went
through. Many of the parents and survivors are still with us, and to
them I dedicate this song. God bless you all. And also to all the
Prestonsburg men and women from many departments, including civilians,
who worked so very hard around the clock to rescue/recover these
children. And to the men of the many Kentucky National Guard units who
were part of the recovery effort. Though it’s been a long time, we will never forget what you did.
Click on above photo to listen to Ralph Bowman sing Tragedy Of School Bus 27 in the MP3 format.
A great big thanks to Jonie for sending me the Stanley Brother's version of this sad tragedy. "No School Bus In Heaven" Just click on above photo to listen.
Sorry to say I don't remember who sent me the below song, but I sure do thank him/her. It's titled Yellow Tomb by Howard Vokes. Click on title below to listen.
Yellow Tomb
Howard Vokes
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Please note: I in no way profit from the music on these pages. All songs are from my personal collection and are placed here for your private enjoyment and educational purposes only. Enjoy!
Tragedy Of School Bus 27 tribute page created by Gary Carico using Yahoo's advanced HTML editor.
