His Flood Story

In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, the images I have seen made me think of a story told to me by my Grandfather. He was an amazing man, who lived an amazing life.

The son of Italian immigrants, he was born in Chicago but followed his father (who was a railroad worker) first to Colorado and later to Bryan, Texas. Bryan is in the "no mans land" of East Texas between Waco, Austin, and Houston (at least 80 miles from each). It is the neighbor to College Station, the home of Texas A&M and the George Bush Presidential Library.

In 1900, the International-Great Northern Railroad Company came to Bryan Texas. This most likely brought jobs, and at some point, my Grandfather and his family to the Texas town. In 1913, my Grandfather would have been 8 years old.

A neighbor to Bryan Texas is the Brazos River, longest river in Texas, running 840 miles from the center of the state to the Gulf of Mexico. Destructive Brazos River floods had often plagued residents of Burleson County and Bryan. In 1899, a 30-inch rain killed 35 and caused about $9 million in property damage. Again in 1900, 1902, and 1908 Brazos River Bottom inhabitants endured serious flooding. In July 1909, an 8-foot levee was built to act as flood control.

The levee's first real test came in December 1913, with a storm far worse than the 1899 flood. Residents of this area, depending on the levees for safety, did not flee until the water had risen dangerously. Too, late they discovered the levee trapped water and then broke, unleashing a wall of destruction from which there was no escape. Victims rode out the flood on roofs and in treetops. My grandfather told us stories that seemed unimaginable about waiting for floodwaters to recede perched high on his roof. It is only now that I realize this story was being told from the point of view of an 8 year-old boy.

There were 177 deaths and $8 million in property loss. On December 5, 1913, the Brazos river crested near Bryan (State Hwy 21) at 61 feet.

I have posted some photos from the 1913 flood to help give a better idea of what he must have seen. They are mostly from Brazoria County, Texas, about 150 miles to the south near Houston. They demonstrate how widespread the damage was.

I often think of my Grandfather and the amazing sights he witnessed. Fortunately, in addition to having lived a storied life, he was an artist. He left behind his art, landscape paintings which he created. These paintings in some small way help to capture and preserve not only the experiences which shaped his amazing life, but also the spirit of a great man.

Flood near Angleton, 1913

Smith house in East Columbia, Texas during the 1913 flood (note the horses)

The boat "Zuleika" in front of the T. L. Smith home, East Columbia, Texas, during the 1913 flood

Crews home, East Columbia, Texas, during 1913 flood

Even snakes needed a place to stay during a flood, Texas 1913

Cindy Sheehan, You're No Alleta Sullivan

As a child, one of my father's favorite movies was the 1944 classic "The Sullivans." It starred Anne Baxter, Thomas Mitchell (Uncle Billy from "It's a Wonderful Life") and Ward Bond (Bert the Cop from "It's a Wonderful Life"). My father, a Korean War Veteran, would always watch the film when it was run during the wee hours of the morning in the pre-cable 200 channel days.

For those who do not know the story, you may be more familiar with Stephen Spielberg's take on it, "Saving Private Ryan." But the Sullivan's were real people from my neighboring state (and fellow flyover country) of Iowa. A brief overview of the Sullivan's and their story:

Waterloo, Iowa had a population of less than 50,000 in 1942 including the eight members of the Sullivan family. Tom Sullivan married Alleta Abel in 1914 at St. Joseph’s Catholic church. As was typical of Irish-Catholic families of that generation, they lost no time in starting a large family.

The two oldest sons, George and Frank, returned home from a hitch in the Navy, reuniting all five Sullivan brothers. When reports were received about the death of their friend, Bill Ball, who was on the battleship Arizona when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, all five decided to enlist in the Navy. They did insist, however, that the Navy allow them to stay together throughout their service. They were stationed together aboard the light Cruiser, the Juneau.

On November 8, 1942, a large Navy task force left New Caledonia to bring reinforcements and much needed supplies to the Marines at Guadacanal. On November 12, the American ships and Marine aircraft destroyed attacking Japanese aircraft. That night, US reconnaissance discovered that the Japanese were approaching, and prepared for battle. The fight began at 1:45 AM. The Japanese lost a battleship and two destroyers; the US lost five of their thirteen ships, with many casualties.

The Juneau received a torpedo hit on the port side which left a huge hole and an almost severed keel. The surviving American ships, including the Juneau, headed back towards base at daybreak. They did not get far. Later that morning, a Japanese submarine fired a torpedo which hit the Juneau near its ammunition supply; the ship was destroyed. Captain Gilbert, acting Commander of the task force, decided that he would request an Army aircraft in the area to get the position of the Juneau, rather than delaying the escape of the other ships.

It was later learned, through survivors' accounts, that four of the brothers died in the initial explosion. The fifth, George Thomas, despite being wounded the night before, made it onto a raft where he survived for five days before succumbing either to wounds and exhaustion or a shark attack.

There is No Sullivan Act
I uncovered a few misconceptions regarding the Sullivans researching this post. A reference to a "Sullivan Act" in connection with family members serving in the same ship/unit is a popular misconception. The Sullivan Law of 29 May 1911 is a New York State Law dealing with firearms.
Although proposed after the death of the five Sullivan Brothers, no "Sullivan Act" was ever enacted by Congress related to family members serving together. Similarly, no President has ever issued any executive order forbidding assignment of family members to the same ship/unit.

CNN, MSNBC, CNBC and the Dog Days of Summer
Thankfully to American and World History, there was no 24 hour Cable news phenomenon in 1942. Just the newspapers, radio and newsreels. Can you imagine the number of news trucks, overpaid anchors, and satellite trucks that would have descended on Waterloo, Iowa?

Imagine Katie Couric posing the question "Aletta, the loss of one son would be devastating to any mother… but losing five sons, do you feel any bitterness toward the government and President Roosevelt?"

But two class individuals, Thomas and Alleta Sullivan, in spite of the intense pain of losing their five sons all at once, made speaking appearances at war plants and ship yards in behalf of the war effort. They hoped that they could help prevent the loss of other American boys. Their daughter, Genevive, often accompanied them, until she joined the WAVES on June 14, 1943.

Management of War with the Attention Span of a Fruitfly
Researching this post I also found another example of an instance when the current mainstream media would have had a collective bout of angina. On February 14, 1943 the Germans attacked Allied Forces during a sandstorm at Kasserine in North Africa. They quickly destroyed 44 American tanks, 26 artillery guns and 22 trucks. On February 15th, the Americans launched a counter-attack

With supply problems Axis forces withdrew from the Kasserine Pass unbeknown to the Allies who failed to follow up this retreat. By February 25th, the Kasserine Pass was in the hands of the Allies and the Germans had been pushed back to the Eastern Dorsale.

The action in the Kasserine Pass cost the Germans 2,000 men and the Allies about 10,000 men, of which 6,500 were Americans.

As one of the first major engagements between American forces and German General Erwin Rommel's forces, the Americans did not have a resounding victory. How do we think our media would handle this today? With 10,000 dead over an 11 day span, the journalists “imbedded” with the 2nd US Corps would be raising white flag faster than a Frenchman faced with…. Faster than a Frenchman.

Would Ted Koppel be the first to ask “Why did the American’s have the highest loses, over 6,500 casualties? Does President Roosevelt's actually have a plan?”

Is that Matt Lauer I hear asking “How do you keep up the moral when you realize that you could be slaughtered by the obviously superior Axis forces?”

Is that Diane Sawyer asking "Why are we even in Africa? What does Africa have to do with the Axis assualts in Europe? What does Africa have to do with Pearl Harbor? How does Tunisia figure into the war against the Axis enemy? Is defending Tunisia worth the cost?"

That must be Chris Matthews yelling "We weren't even attacked by Germany? Why don't we finish the job in Japan before we worry about sending our boys to die in the Dessert?"

Welcome to America 2005. All bad news, all the time. Thankfully the technologies needed to win World War II were ahead of the technology that was required to produce the 24 hour global media.

If it had been the other way around, there is a good chance I might not be writing this.

Note: Those of you who claim that Germany declared war on the U.S. following Pearl Harbor, so we were bound to defend ourselves although the Germans never struck our homeland should remember, Osama Bin Laden declared war on the U.S. in August of 1996, which elicited no response.

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/terrorism/international/fatwa_1996.html