Wilson River Fire Vehicle Accident Fatalities 1945

Two U.S. Army soldiers, Jesse L. Thompson and Lester A. Ware, were killed and four others were hospitalized when their transport truck rolled over on a curve along the Columbia River Highway (Highway 30) near Westport, Oregon. The truck was part of a convoy of 500 soldier-firefighters mobilized to the suppress the Wilson River Fire, which was part of the 1945 Tillamook Burn. The truck was carrying soldiers of the all-African American 2822 Engineer General Service Regiment from Fort Lewis near Tacoma, Washington. The soldiers who were hospitalized: Ernest McNeil, L. C. White, James B. Bumford, and Brady Harris. 

Vehicle Incident or Accident, Fatality, Hand Crews