September 11, 2025, marks the seventy-fifth anniversary of the West Lafayette troop train collision.
In the early morning hours of September 11, 1950, a Pennsylvania National Guard Troop train, disabled three-quarters of a mile west of West Lafayette, Ohio, was struck in the rear by the passenger train “Spirit of St. Louis,” resulting in the death of 33 soldiers.
The troop train, commanded by LTC Townsend, was carrying members of the 109th Field Artillery Battalion en route from Wilkes-Barre to Camp Atterbury before being deployed to Germany during the Korean Conflict.
Radio station WTNS in Coshocton and news director John R. Terry broadcast a live radio-telephone hook-up to a radio station in Wilkes-Barre.
The rescue effort involved citizens of West Lafayette, Coshocton, and surrounding areas.
There is now a Troop Train Memorial in West Lafayette, OH.
Killed In the Wreck:
Service Battery:
CORP. CARL W. ARMBRUSTER.
CORP. JOHN L. BARNA.
PVT. WILLIAM R. DISBROW.
CORP. JOSEPH E. FLETCHER.
PFC EDWARD W. GALLAGHER.
PVT. WALLACE R. LUDWIG.
WO JAMES F. McGINLEY.
SGT. BERNARD S. OKRASINSKI.
CORP. THOMAS M. OSTRASZEWSKI.
PVT. WILLIAM F. TIERNEY.
CAPT. ARTHUR J. THOMAS.
RCT. THOMAS W. WALLACE.
Battery B.
PFC LEONARD BALONIS.
RCT. EUGENE CARR.
SGT. JOHN W. COX.
RCT. WILLIAM J. DOUGHERTY.
SGT WILLIAM C. EDWARDS.
RCT. HUGH L. FARGUS.
PFC. HAROLD HANDLOS.
PFC CLYDE P. HARDING.
PFC MARTIN F. HORNLEIN.
PFC RONALD J. JACKSON.
SGT. LESTER J. KUEHN.
CORP. LARRY L. LUZENSKI.
RCT. FRANK C. MARTINEZ.
RCT. CHARLES NORTON.
PFC RAYMOND PUDLOWSKI.
RCT RICHARD A. ROYER.
RCT. WILLIAM F. SOBERS.
WO WILLIAM M. WELLINGTON.
SGT. GILBERT B. WHARTON.
PFC EDMUND ZABICKI.
PFC DONALD C. ZIEKER.
A small display concerning this incident can be viewed in the lobby of the Age of Steam Roundhouse Museum through November.
