Episode 57: The Apollo 1 Investigation (The Apollo Prgram, Part II)

I'm not sure how I missed this during my research, but earlier this year Arlington National Cemetery unveiled a new memorial to commemorate the 55th anniversary of the Apollo 1 fire. It is not located in Section 24 near the USS Maine Monument with the other astronaut memorials. This one is in Section 3, near the headstones of the two Apollo 1 crewmembers interred at Arlington. It was unveiled on June 2, 2022.

Air Force Lieutenant Colonel Virgil Ivan "Gus" Grissom is interred at Arlington Naitonal Cemetery in Section 3, Grave 2503.

Navy Lieutnenat Commander Roger Bruce Chaffee is interred at Arlington National Cemetery in Section 3, Grave 2502

As per his wishes and the wishes of his family, Air Force Lieutenant Colonel Edward Higgins White II is interred at the cemetery of his alma mater, the United States Military Academy at West Point, in Section 18, Row G, Grave 80. His father, himself a West Point alumnus, is also buried there.

Pad 34, where the fire took place, still stands as a memorial to the fallen crew of Apollo 1, as seen here during the 50th anniversary commemoration of the fire.

The memo that NASA official Jim Jones sent to President Lyndon B. Johnson just over an hour after the fire to inform him of the accident.

The letter LBJ sent to Roger Chaffee's parents after the accident. As a huge supporter of the space program, Johnson took the lose of the astronauts hard and wrote similar letters to the parents and wives of all three astronauts killed in the fire.

Episode 56: The Tragedy of Apollo 1 (The Apollo Program 1)

 

55 years ago, last January, the crew of Apollo 1 (left to right Gus Grissom, Ed White, Roger Chaffee) strapped into their command module for what should have been a routine low-risk test. They never left the module, dying in a fire and that seems to have been as inevitable as it was unexpected. Many red flags before the tragedy were ignored which led to plenty of finger pointing after the fact. What should have been the triumphal first act for the program that was to take Americans to the moon, nearly killed the space race in the United States. But in the end, this wakeup call may have been what ultimately saved the Apollo Program and turned it into the success it was.

After the fire, which only lasted a few minutes, the interior of the Apollo 1 command module was unrecognizable, even to those who were most familiar with it.

The crew died of asphyxiation in less than a minute after their oxygen hoses were burned through and cut them off from their source of fresh air. The subsequent autopsies showed that the flight suits provided enough protection for the astronauts that their burn would have likely been survivable (and probably occurred post-mortem).

Everyone involved in the program knew there were a lot of issues with the spacecraft, though most either thought they would eventually be worked out (because everything in Project Mercury and Project Gemini had just kind of worked out in the end) or choose to ignore them. As a joke, the crew sent the above photo to Apollo spacecraft administration manager Joseph Shea - who had given the module a provisional passing grade but ordered a lot of flammable material removed from the cabin (it never was) - and inscribed it with the following: "It isn't that we don't trust you, Joe, but this time we've decided to go over your head."

Episode 55: My First Arlington National Cemetery Funeral

Thanks to an open invitation from his family and that invitation's wider distribution by U.S. Army W.T.F! Moments, I was able to attend the funeral of Korean and Vietnam war veteran, retired Army Lieutenant Colonel Gene Hill.

Over the course of two wars, LTC Hill acquired some serious chest candy, including Special Forces and Airborne qualifications, expert rifle and machine gunner, a Silver Star, a Bronze Star with Valor, two Legion of Merits, a Vietnam Service Medal with two Campaign Stars, a South Vietnam Gallantry Cross with Bronze Star, a Purple Heart, a Meritorious Service Medal, two Air Medals, four Army Commendation Medals, a Republic Korea War Service Medal, an Army of Occupation Medal with German Clasp and Japan Clasp, two Defense Service Medals, a Korean Service Medal with (I believe) seven Campaign Stars, a United Nations Korean Service Medal, a Republic of Vietnam Campaign Medal, a Department of the Army Distinguished Civilian Service Award, and a Department of the Army Civilian Service Commendation Medal. This shadow box also includes his 25^th Infantry Division combat patch, a World War II-era amphibious engineers seahorse patch that I can only assume he had a connection to (possibly in Korea) and the JFK Special Warfare Center Patch (under his Special Forces tab), an Army Staff badge, a World War I Iron Cross I can only assume is a memento from his service time in German (possibly belonging to his father-in-law), and the tassel from his Ph.D. in 1986.

LTC Hill later in life, still proudly carrying a 25th Infantry Division challenge coin in his wallet.

LTC Hill's casket with roses left by family and a military police badge left by an MP colonel.

Fort Myer Old Post Chapel.