Texas Trivia (Houston, Austin, Alvin: for sale, gas, teacher)

[CptnRn]

Originally Posted by texasdiver

Sorry...didn't read the rules.

No problem, try this one.

Since I'm pretty sure I answered the previous question correctly, here is a new one.

In WWII a native Texan who was a fifth grade drop out from an extremely poor family, became the most decorated soldier of WWII. During 27 months of action in the European theater he won 33 U.S. and foreign medals and citations including the Medal of Honor, the U.S. military's highest award for valor. What did he do to win the Medal of Honor, why did he say he did it and what else was notable about his later career?

[texasdiver]

Originally Posted by CptnRn

No problem, try this one.

Since I'm pretty sure I answered the previous question correctly, here is a new one.

In WWII a native Texan who was a fifth grade drop out from an extremely poor family, became the most decorated soldier of WWII. During 27 months of action in the European theater he won 33 U.S. and foreign medals and citations including the Medal of Honor, the U.S. military's highest award for valor. What did he do to win the Medal of Honor, why did he say he did it and what else was notable about his later career?

Audie Murphy. From Wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Audie_Murphy

in the battle at Holtzwihr, France.[1][6] After fighting for some time, Murphy's unit was reduced to an effective strength of 19 out of 128. Murphy sent all of the remaining men to the rear[6] while he shot at the Germans until he ran out of ammunition. He then climbed aboard an abandoned, burning tank destroyer and used its .50 caliber machine gun[1] to cut down the German infantry,[6] including one full squad of German infantry who crawled in a ditch to within 100 feet (30 m) of his position. He was able to call in artillery fire using a land-line telephone and, under heavy fire, was wounded in the leg.[1][6] He nonetheless continued his nearly single-handed battle for almost an hour.[1][6] He only stopped fighting when his telephone line to the artillery fire direction center was cut by enemy artillery. As his remaining men moved forward, he quickly organized them into a counter-attack[1][6] which ultimately drove the enemy from Holtzwihr.[6] For these actions, Murphy was awarded the Medal of Honor.[1][6]

When asked after the war why he had seized the machine gun and taken on an entire company of German infantry, he replied simply, "They were killing my friends."

As for his later life I suspect he is most famous for playing himself on the big screen in the 1955 film "To Hell and Back" which was the highest grossing film for Universal Pictures until Jaws in 1975.

[texasdiver]

Am I up now? After some googling I discovered my previous question was not quite correct. Or more correctly, the owners of the building have false information about it on their web site. So a more accurate question would be the following:

This 22 story building was considered the tallest building west of the Mississippi and south of the Mason Dixon line when it was constructed in 1910. It is still seen from I-35 by millions of travelers every year. What is the name of the building and the name of the city in which it is located?

[lothartheterrible]

Originally Posted by CptnRn

According to this website there are more physical remains then just one. Abandoned & Little-Known Airfields: Texas - Northeast Fort Worth

The main remnant is a section of GSW runway 17 that is incorporated into the end of Amon Carter Blvd. However, there are several other physical remains that you can see in the google maps satelite image below, including part of an arc of trees that once lined the boulevard leading in to the terminal, also there are lamp post foundations and imprints left by the old roads, runways and building foundations in some of the fields.

Original airport layouts superimposed on current site: http://www.airfields-freeman.com/TX/...00_overlay.jpg

1995 aerial image of remnants: http://www.airfields-freeman.com/TX/GSW_TX_95.jpg

Here is an odd coincidence, given that this is an old airport site, I noticed the google maps satellite photograph caught an airplane in flight over the GSW site at this location above Trinity Blvd. just East of Center Point Drive. Amon Carter Boulevard, Fort Worth, TX - Google Maps

That is correct. The remnants of runway 17 today serve as Amon Carter Blvd.

[lothartheterrible]

Originally Posted by texasdiver

Am I up now? After some googling I discovered my previous question was not quite correct. Or more correctly, the owners of the building have false information about it on their web site. So a more accurate question would be the following:

This 22 story building was considered the tallest building west of the Mississippi and south of the Mason Dixon line when it was constructed in 1910. It is still seen from I-35 by millions of travelers every year. What is the name of the building and the name of the city in which it is located?

The Alico Building, Waco

[CptnRn]

Originally Posted by texasdiver

Am I up now? After some googling I discovered my previous question was not quite correct. Or more correctly, the owners of the building have false information about it on their web site. So a more accurate question would be the following:

This 22 story building was considered the tallest building west of the Mississippi and south of the Mason Dixon line when it was constructed in 1910. It is still seen from I-35 by millions of travelers every year. What is the name of the building and the name of the city in which it is located?

Yes, you were correct.

[texasdiver]

Originally Posted by lothartheterrible

The Alico Building, Waco

Correct

[lothartheterrible]

Originally Posted by texasdiver

Correct

Guess I'll go ahead and go.

On March 18, 1937 the London School in the Piney Woods community of New London was destroyed in a natural gas explosion which killed in excess of 300 students and teachers. The question: This was one of the first big reporting assignments of what now-legendary journalist, and by what news bureau was he employed at the time?

[jtur88]

Walter Cronkite, working for United Press. Here's a copy of his bylined story:

WalterCronkiteIn1937.jpg (image)

[lothartheterrible]

Originally Posted by jtur88

Walter Cronkite, working for United Press. Here's a copy of his bylined story:

WalterCronkiteIn1937.jpg (image)

In the words of the man himself:

"I did nothing in my studies nor in my life to prepare me for a story of the magnitude of that New London tragedy, nor has any story since that awful day equaled it."

Your turn.