Plant Explosion
Though both plants were designed with safety as a primary concern, at 2:45 AM, June 5, 1942, a large explosion on the assembly line at the Elwood facility resulted in 48 dead or missing and was felt as far as Waukegan, Illinois over 60 miles (97 km) north. Assembly Lines were located in separate buildings which were separated by substantial distances limiting major damage to the facility as a whole.
From a U.P. newspaper article written at the time, "Explosion shattered buildings of one of the units of the $30,000,000 Elwood Ordnance plant gave up the bodies of 21 workers Friday. Army officials said 36 more were missing from the blast that could be felt for a radius of 100 miles. Another 41 were injured, five of them critically, from the explosion that leveled a building . . . . Not one of the 68 men inside the shipping unit when the blast occurred escaped death or injury."
Read more about this topic: Joliet Army Ammunition Plant
Famous quotes containing the words plant and/or explosion:
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They throw a forest down less cut than broken.
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