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lamar county mission Barnesville, GA, April 28, 2011 - Meteorologists had predicted an evening of extremely unstable weather to include potential tornadic activity on Wednesday, 27 April 2011. No one would have suspected that what was to come would go down in history as one of the deadliest series of tornadoes to ever strike the southeastern United States. In Alabama alone, the death toll rose to over 200 people before multiple tornadoes moved into northwestern Georgia at speeds in excess of 60 miles per hour. Several Georgia counties suffered fatalities and storm related injuries as a result of violent wind shears and tornadoes later estimated to be F-3 in category. A week after the damage was done, news affiliates reported that over 350 people had been killed. At approximately 1251 hours a small girl living with her mother in a house in Barnesville, Georgia in Lamar County, got up to use the bathroom. When she got into the bathroom the little girl saw a spider which scared her and caused her to scream. The scream awoke the mother who rushed to the bathroom to investigate but about a minute later the mother later said she heard the roar of a train and both she and the small girl dove into the bathtub to take cover. The tornado subsequently hit the house completely taking it away from its foundation but leaving 3 of the 4 walls of the bathroom and the surviving mother and daughter intact. “Saved by a spider!� commented Nancy Thrush, commissioner of Lamar County to a Georgia State Defense Force soldier who had been called into action. Within 12 hours of the tornado, 1st and 5th Brigades of the Georgia State Defense Force were activated to report to the EOC in Lamar County and
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from there to the forward reporting station, then to ground zero in the area of Gunter Lane in Barnesville where the tornado had struck the hardest. A cluster of homes belonging primarily to the Gunter family had been blown away by the storms later estimated to be at 167 miles per hour. Two of the residents, an aunt and uncle to active U.S. Army First Sergeant Ernest Gunter, whose parents house and vehicles were eradicated, stated that his parents had been killed in the tornado and that his grandfather, age 95, had been picked up and deposited into a debris field approximately 30 yards away. The grandfather remains in an area hospital at the time of this article. First Sergeant Gunter fought back tears as he expressed his appreciation for the soldiers that converged on his family’s estate in an effort to roadblock looters, turn away spectators and converge on the debris field in an effort to retrieve articles of value from the homes. According to COL Ed Hightower, 1st Bde C.O., an estimated 182 Georgia State Defense Force soldiers rallied to the call with about 160 of them working in Lamar County, 18 in Spaulding County and 4 in Rome, Georgia. The mission commenced on Thursday afternoon 27 April with the first soldier to arrive being from the 3rd Battalion. It concluded on Monday morning, 02 May with the last soldier to leave also from the 3rd Battalion, stated 1LT Sam Kilburn, Executive Officer of the Battalion and its OIC during the protracted mission. LT Kilburn also commented on the dedication of the 21 soldiers who served at ground zero with no facilities, no running water, but with an abundance of energy and enthusiasm. continued on page 3
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