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Remember...James Wesley Buchanan
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James Wesley Buchanan was born on November 14, 1925, in Randolph County, West Virginia to Forrest (sometimes spelled Forest) Buchanan and Hallie Rosencrance Buchanan. The couple married in 1924, and no child other than James was found listed in records. The Buchanans' will listed each other if one pre-deceased the other and various other relatives in the event they died together.
In 1930, the family, which included Forrest, Hallie, and James Buchanan, lived with Mrs. Buchanan's parents. Theirs was a farming family, but Mr. Buchanan also worked as a laborer for the state road. By 1940, according to census records, Mr. Rosencrance has passed away, and Mrs. Rosencrance now lived with the Buchanans. Mr. Buchanan was listed as a machine operator for the state road.
On November 15, 1943, James Buchanan registered for military service in Elkins, West Virginia. He enlisted in the U.S. Army on June 27, 1944, at Fort Benjamin Harrison in Indianapolis, Indiana, and there attended basic training.
James Buchanan was on a U.S. Army transport train on July 6, 1944, when the train crashed. Railroad officials, Army intelligence, and the FBI investigated the accident to determine the cause and whether sabotage was involved. In August, the results of the accident investigation were summarized and published in the Knoxville News-Sentinel. The train had entered a curve at a speed 10 mph over the speed limit and jumped the track at a location where the track gauge was wider than it should have been ("Track Too Wide, Too Much Speed Held Wreck Cause," Knoxville News-Sentinel, 26 August 1944). The wreck was thought to be the second largest military stateside disaster of World War II. It was front page news in Tennessee the day after it happened, and stories continued to be posted of the heroic efforts of local people and the remaining soldiers on the train to rescue those who were on cars that went over the bank and cliffs and 50 feet into the ravine below the train track. The men died of traumatic injuries, burns from the steam of the engine, and drowning, since some people were trapped in the engine which was crushed and underwater in the river below. Thirty-five people died, including another West Virginia soldier named Robert Clingerman Jr., who was also from Randolph County. Ninety-five were injured. Photos of the tragedy can be seen on a website, called TroopTrain, established to honor the veterans and railroad employees who were aboard, as well as record accounts from those who survived the accident. ("WWII Troop Train Wreck of July 6, 1944," www.trooptrain.com, accessed 25 January 2021, http://www.drwebman.com/trooptrainwreck/.) A book entitled She Jumped the Tracks: America's Tragic Stateside 20th Century Military Disaster, by John P. Ascher (Farragut, TN: M.J.A., 1994), provides a detailed account of the events surrounding the wreck and rescue operation. This out-of-print book is summarized and quoted on the TroopTrain site.
| James Buchanan died of traumatic injuries, broken bones and burns. He was transported back to West Virginia, where he was buried in the Old Brick Church Cemetery in Huttonsville. His headstone notes his parents' names, as well as his own. When Forrest Buchanan died in 1969 and Hallie Buchanan in 1980, they were laid to rest near their son's grave. |  Headstone for Pvt. James W. Buchanan in the Old Brick Church Cemetery. Courtesy Cynthia Mullens |
Article prepared by Cynthia Mullens
January 2021
West Virginia Archives and History welcomes any additional information that can be provided about these veterans, including photographs, family names, letters and other relevant personal history.
