#FlashbackFriday: A Tale of Two Tornadoes and Sheppard Air Force Base
Early April marks the anniversaries of two tornadoes that struck Wichita Falls, Texas, and Sheppard Air Force Base, 15 years apart.
The F5 tornado that struck Wichita Falls and Sheppard Air Force Base on April 3, 1964. (NOAA photo)
On April 3, 1964, an F5 tornado hit the Wichita Falls area. Although the storm caused extensive damage to the city, the Sheppard BX was on the fringe of the tornado and received no damage, but was littered with debris.
At the BX Ice House, all customers and associates were evacuated. After the store passed, associates reopened the facility. Power was out for three days. Flashlights and Coleman lanterns illuminated the store, and cash registers were operated manually.
Despite downed power lines and blown-out doors and windows, nobody was injured at the Exchange office, which was closer to the storm’s path. Associates were prepared and calm—although a piece of timber did come through a wall five feet away from a personnel clerk. Two adjacent buildings were destroyed.
After the tornado, BX mobile units toured the base, serving troops who were working on post-storm cleanup. Although there was no electricity, gas grills were working at the main snack bar and at the service club, enabling them to stay open until power returned. Office personnel pitched in to assist in inventorying damage at the warehouse.
The Wichita Falls Times & Record News’ Leon Hooten shot this photo of the 1979 tornado.
Fifteen years later, on April 10, 1979, an F4 tornado struck Wichita Falls. Exchange associate Fran Henthorn, whose husband, Art, was the main store manager at Sheppard, wrote about the tornado in the June 1979 Exchange Post.
The Henthorn apartment, which received minimal damage, became an “open house” as neighbors came by to ask for candles and matches, Henthorn wrote. An Exchange personnel clerk came by with her 3-month-old grandchild: her daughter, son-in-law and granddaughter had made a late-afternoon trip to the bank and while they were gone, the tornado destroyed their house.
At the request of Sheppard Security Police, Art Henthorn returned to the BX, where he worked for 20 hours straight to dispense emergency supplies to those who needed them. A Shoppette opened without electricity. Purchases were recorded on hand calculator because of the lack of power. When the Shoppette ran out of bread, the Commissary, which remained closed, delivered a supply. Three mobile Exchanges brought food to survivors.
One associate said he was on the way to his storm cellar when part of his roof blew off. Another made it to a neighbor’s storm cellar; shortly after the door closed, part of a nearby house landed on the cellar door. Neighbors spent 90 minutes chopping up debris to free the people in the cellar. Another said she was driving home when she had to pull over to a service station because of limited visibility. Service station employees quickly hustled her to a lube bay to protect her from the tornado.
More than 2,500 homes were destroyed in the 1979 tornado, and other Exchange associates reported that their homes were damaged or demolished. But all Exchange associates survived without suffering any injuries.
Source: Exchange Post archives.
