Railroad Memorial, West Lafayette, Ohio

The eleventh day of the month of September is a day that those who lived through it will never forget.  In 2001, four planes were hijacked from three airports in the United States of America.  Two were rammed into the World Trade Center in New York City in the U.S. state of New York causing the two building to collapse.  A third plane was rammed into the Pentagon in Washington D.C. taking down a large section of the structure.  A fourth plane that was hijacked was taken over by the passengers and crashed into a field near the small town of Shanksville in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania.  Like the attack on Pearl Harbor in Hawaii on December 7, 1941, September 11, 2001, was a day that (using the words of United States President Franklin Delano Roosevelt) went down in infamy.  As many people who were alive on that day and during the attack on Pearl Harbor remember these very tragic incidents and will remember these days for years to come, another tragic incident happened on the eleventh day of September.  Instead of hijacked planes, this involved two trains.

The day was September 11, 1950.  The place is a small town called West Lafayette in the eastern region of the U.S. state of Ohio.  It was early in the morning.  The Pennsylvania National Guard Troop Train Number 4 was disabled on the railroad tracks east of the town.  The train was carrying troops from the 109^th Field Artillery Battalion who were on their way to Germany to be deployed as the Korean War was happening.  The ‘Spirit of Saint Louis’, a passenger train, crashed into the rear of the train.  Thirty-three men of the 109^th Field Artillery Battalion died.

Today, a memorial is at the railroad crossing at Ohio Route 93 in the center of West Lafayette, Ohio.  The memorial has the names of those of the 109^th Field Artillery Battalion who lost their lives in the wreck.  The memorial also commemorates those in the region who were involved in the rescue efforts.  The memorial consists of an obelisk with the names of the soldiers who lost their lives and a commemoration of the locals who helped in the rescue efforts, and small section of railroad track, and an artillery gun.

The railroad memorial remembering the men of the 109^th Field Artillery Battalion who lost their lives in a train crash in West Lafayette, Ohio is located next to the railroad crossing where Ohio Route 93 crosses the railroad tracks in the center of the town.  Parking is on site.  The town of West Lafayette on Ohio Route 93 just south of U.S. Route east of the town of Coshocton and west of Interstate 77.

The seventh day of December and the eleventh day of September will be days that will be associated with great tragedy.  Let us remember those who tragically died at Pearl Harbor in Honolulu, Hawaii.  Let us remember those who tragically died at the World Trade Center towers in New York City, New York.  Let us remember those who tragically died at the Pentagon in Washington D.C..  Let us remember those who tragically died in a field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania.  Let us remember those of the 109^th Field Artillery Battalion who tragically died on a train in West Lafayette, Ohio.