Posted on 07/23/2016 6:07:46 PM PDT by Elderberry
The Texas Standard spoke to nearly 100 survivors of the UT Tower shooting. Next week, you can hear their stories.
Dallas. Baton Rouge. Nice. Orlando. It seems like we can’t go more than a few days without a violent event somewhere in the world. While it’s true these attacks are happening for very different and very complicated reasons – they keep happening. It’s almost hard to remember a time when they didn’t.
But when a shooter took aim at the University of Texas of Austin campus from the top of the UT tower on August 1, 1966, no one had any reference point for such an attack. The Texas Standard spoke to people who were there that day as part of a documentary that will air Monday.
Summer school was in session. While the campus wasn’t as full as it would be in the fall or spring, it was still teeming with life.
Judy Brooks had come to participate in a summer orientation right before her freshman year.
Gary Gibbs worked part time at what was then Capital National Bank. “You had to carry a full load so your draft board wouldn’t come after you for the Army while you were in school,” Gibbs says. “I was able to provide enough hours a year by working part time, but I would also go to both sessions of summer school.”
Linda Adkins was working for the Hogg Foundation for Mental Health at the time, which was located on the 24th floor of the tower.
Cheryl Dickerson was walking around campus. “I struck up a conversation with the ticket agent and he asked me if I had ever seen the campus and I said ‘No,’ I had not,” she says. “He asked me if he could give me a tour of the campus the next morning and I said ‘Sure.’ And the tower was the first stop on the tour.”
Just a little before noon, a man began shooting from the tower at the campus below. Many people heard the sounds, but not many realized they were gunshots.
“All of a sudden I heard this noise that sounded like – back then we had Coke bottles – so it sounded like cases of Coke bottles being placed on top of each other,” Jeanette Lawrence says.
“I kept hearing what sounded like lumber dropping,” Bob Matjeka says. “It was like a clapping sound.”
“Just by chance, that was the day that Scholz’s Beer Garten was going to have some sort of celebration,” Sid Lawrence says. “I don’t remember what they were celebrating, but we commented – a couple of the students – to each other,’Oh, Scholz’s is starting a little early.’”
But a few people recognized the sounds of the shots, including then associate professor Michael Hall. He called 911 to report the gunfire.
“Hello, this is Michael Hall at the History Department from the university campus,” he said in the 9-1-1 recording. “There has just been a gunshot on the main plaza outside the main building and at least one person wounded.”
Hall says it was his war experience that helped put the sounds in context.
“I had been in World War II, and although that ended in 1945, I was still quite conscious of airplanes flying close by overhead, of the possibility of explosions,” he says.
Besides war experiences, few had any context for a mass shooting like this.
“That was a foreign concept back then. People didn’t shoot each other like now,” Dale Dorsey says.
“And it was just so abnormal,” Jan Klinck says.
“There’s no reference point. There’s no, ‘Oh this is like such and such,’” Sue Wiseman says. “There’s just nothing there.”
It came from out of the blue.
“Out of the Blue: 50 Years After the UT Tower Shooting” is Texas Standard’s oral history on the anniversary of the first public mass shooting of its kind. We’ll bring you these stories and many more in a special edition of our show Monday.
I was explaining to a friend who has always been a Republican but not always well educated about various issues that ALL of the mass shootings for years have been by registered Democrats and/or Muslim terrorists.
She asked So are there no right-wing mass murders?
And I replied maybe the UT 50 years ago, but I was no really sure who that guy was.
LOL!
No, this is just young idiot writer who thinks 911 has been around forever.
Same type of writer who thinks Hillary! is “something new.”
I am certain that our book said he used a .264 Winchester model 70. The reason I remember so well is I was just into handloading and knew the .264 was a fairly uncommon cartridge. It used the same bullets as 6.5 Swedish Mauser but cases would be hard to come by.
Of course the book could be wrong as they often are. I just did a short search on Google and noticed a Remington model 700 in 6mm Remington was being sold as Whitman’s rifle. That would be a good choice too.
I still am not totally convinced that it was not the .264 mag but you are probably right.
“I saw it too It was Brian Williams first big story”
I had to go and check...he was six.
“Hogg Foundation”
Texas governor Hogg had two daughters. Ima and Ura.
[It was a .264 Winchester Magnum]
There’s a rare cartridge. Phenomenal at long range.
Houston McCoy, the hero who hated being called a hero. His shotgun blast brought Whitman down. McCoy died in 2012.
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=102738984
‘White guys shoot people too, y’know.’
6.5 mm rifles are very popular lately.
Seems to me Kurt Russell played the killer in the TV movie.
But a few people recognized the sounds of the shots, including then associate professor Michael Hall. He called 911 to report the gunfire.
“Hello, this is Michael Hall at the History Department from the university campus,” he said in the 9-1-1 recording. “There has just been a gunshot on the main plaza outside the main building and at least one person wounded.”
Pure BS!!! The Was NO 9-1-1 Back Then in 1966!
IF You Had A Major Emergency Back Then You Dialed "0" For The Operator And Told Her....
She In Turn Connected You With The Police, Fire, Ambulance,...whatever...
That's How Things Were Done Back Then!
BTW, I'm A Native TEXAN And I'm Certainly old enough to remember The Event Very Well
An acquaintance of mine, Tommy Ashton and a good friend of my roommate at USC was killed by the sniper. I still think it about whenever there is a mass shooting. Tommy was the only person I ever knew whose goal was to become a politician. He was also the only real liberal I knew at USC as it was very conservative in those days. We did share an interest in local boxing at the Olympic Auditorium. Tommy was at Texas for two weeks of Peace Corp training – the wrong place at the wrong time.
Sorry about you buddy
I know someone who lost their father that day. Very sad.
I remember it also, as well as the Richard Speck murders of 8 nursing students just a few weeks earlier.
Strange summer, to have two mass murders back to back
WIKI:
In the early morning hours of August 1, 1966,
Charles Whitman murdered his wife and his mother in their homes.
Later that day, he brought a number of guns,
including rifles, a shotgun, and handguns,
to the campus of the University of Texas at Austin
where, over an approximate 90 to 95 minute period,
he killed 14 people and wounded 32 others.
My best friend’s husband’s father was killed by the sniper. We were children at the time, and didn’t know each other until a few tears after the event. I think his dad was in grad school at the time. Like your friend, he was in the wrong place at the wrong time. I believe he stepped outside for some fresh air as a break from his studies. It was a traumatic experience for all involved.
As big as a walnut, IIRC.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.