To purchase a copy
of Fred W. Linton's book, 
TRUE AMERICAN,  send a check  for $20.00, which includes postage, made out to:
 Branco Publishing Co.
 P.O. Box 1172
Mill Valley, California
94942

                     "Wednesday's Children"
                                          by
                                    Hazel Jones

There was not a war that Wednesday morning.
But they say after a thundeous sound
an eerie mushroom of thick gray-black smoke
                      went high into the sky.

It was not wartime, but missiles of debris
                          split the air.
No, it was not wartime, but like the aftermath
of a great battle the land was left blood-soaked,
burned and charred; death and destruction lay strewn about.

    But rising up from those charred ruins,
amidst catastrophic loss of life, limb, and property; marching forward and toiling 
    relentlessly across fifty years
                           they moved.

    These are Wednesday's Children.
Smoldering embers, horrid memories, simmer
just below the surface in their minds, to be recalled
in a flash of ghastly light on that dreaded Wednesday morning
    when the Grand Camp exploded.

With the great blast, a young unsuspecting town
    was catapulted to harsh maturity.
Help came quickly from far and near to lend a hand.
    some outsiders would ask,
"But where is the little city called Texas City?"
    And reply would come,
"Why it's by the bay down there.  You know where,
    where they had the great explosion in '47."
"But I hear through shedded tears. they''ve rebuilt 
        over the years."

    Yes, all of Wednesday's Children
like the noted Phoenix, with their collective wings 
of faith, hope, courage, resolve and hard work
they've risen from the ashes and the rubble
    to soar to new heights.

    Indeed, these are Wednesday's Children;
a testament to the will of a believing people.

    50th Anniversary April 16, 1997