Welcome toTexas City disaster.com, your online web site for sharing information about Texas disasters.  On April 16th. and17th., 1947, two ships, the S. S. Grandcamp and the Highflyer, blew up in the harbor of Texas City, Texas, then the 11th. largest harbor in the United States.  Over 500 people died and 2500  were injured, including schoolchildren.  Some Monsanto engineers speculated that the blast was worse than the atom bomb which had recently exploded at Hiroshima and Nagasaki because the Texas City disaster was at ground 0.  The Texas City disaster was the largest industrial disaster in United States history, so far; and let's hope there is never another one. 

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    Fred W.Linton's account of the Texas City disaster of April 16th. and 17th., 1947,True American, reminds us of those special and wonderful character traits that make us Americans.  It's what sets America apart from other countries, and they "can't touch this."  That's why True American is so inspiring.  True American reminds us of the innocent times in American history when people shared values rather than conflict over minutia, when people looked after one another and one another's children, and appreciated it, the fifties  when movie stars kissed with closed mouths on the screen.  True American is a return to those old time values when people said what they meant and meant what they said.

    Those traits particularly shone in the people of Texas City in the aftermath of the great disaster of 1947  --  equivalent to the force of an atomic bomb explosion without, thankfully, the radiation fallout.  It's why Fred loved Texas City and held its residents in such high esteem.  As Danielle Aguilar said, "This is a book about love."  love of parent, love of family, love of friends and hometown.

    If you want to read a love story, you should read True American.  I hope the book puts you in touch with your deep, perhaps even hidden, feelings of love that you have for those special people in your life.  If it does, then True American will have accomplished its purpose. 

Author's biography:  

    Fred W. Linton, September 21st, 1908 - August 3rd, 1970, was the owner of Emken-Linton Funeral Homes in Texas City, LaMarque and League City, Texas, and Jane's Floral Shop as well as a burial monument business and a burial insurance company.  Mr. Linton was a survivor of the explosions of the S.S.Grandcamp  and the Highflyer ships in Texas City's harbor April 16th and 17th, 1947, and participated in the reconstruction of Texas City.  After the disaster, Mr. Linton chronicled his personal experiences and observations of the events and people he knew, which according to him was "just about everybody in town."  Fred reveals who the good guys were, especially the leaders of the company that suffered the most devastation,   --  and who weren't so good.  He pulls no punches.

REVIEWS:

    I received the book and you did one out-
standing job.  You know I knew your dad and thought he was a great man and Texas City was fortunate to have such a great man in this city.  What a great tribute from a daughter to her dad. 

Irene McKenzie, a survivor of the Texas City disaster.


    For anyone who is interested in the 1947 disaster, the book, "True American" is a must read.  It not only gives insight into the thoughts and actions of an important community leader in Texas City, but it gives a sense of what the people of our town were like.

    For me personally, the idea that Fred was such a thoughtful and careful writer, such a deep thinker--just reading his own thoughts in his own words--was amazing.  Along with this, the way he loved the people in TC was obvious as reflected in his words.  I had read so many positive comments about him when editing the WE WERE THERE book that I already knew how central and loved a figure he was in 1947 era TC.  Having the opportunity to read his thoughts on the explosion experience was an unexpected histroical delight for me.  And it is important to note in some way that his memoirs do not include graphic details, rather his thoughts concerning the people involved, their strength of character.  (With a very few exceptions.)

Marce Lowry Welch
Editor  of "We Were There"

    i have just finished reading the book, True  American, by Fred W. Linton and His Daughter.  Being a native of Texas City, I am always interested in reading materials that have to do with the history of our town.  I have read other materials on the 1947 Texas City Disaster, but the detail and emotion with which that Mr. Linton wrote his disaster memoirs is unparalleled.  I felt as if I was going through the whole experience with him.  Also, the strong ties that bind Texas City residents together as family is readily apparent in his discussion of the recovery.  Helen Linton Page's love and admiration for her father, especially in the part that he played in the disaster recovery, is very evident in her post script.  This book is well worth reading.

Stephanie Hilden, Library Director, Texas City High School