That's One Big Steam Locomotive-- Part 1

From the May 12, 2019, Chicago Tribune  "Steam locomotive makes big debut for transcontinental party" by Mead Gruver.

It's longer than two city buses, weighs more than a Boeing 747 fully loaded with passengers and can pull 18 Statues of Liberty over a mountain.

The Big Boy No. 4014 steam locomotive rolled out of a Union Pacific restoration shop in Cheyenne this month after five years of work.  It will then set out on a yearlong tour to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the Transcontinental Railroad.

Big Boys hauled freight between Wyoming and Utah in the 1940s and 1950s.  Of the 25 built by the American Locomotive Co. in Schenecady, New York from 1941 to 1944, eight remain, but only No. 4014 is still fully operational.

They were engineered for steep mountain grades and each Big Boy had two huge engines beneath a 250-ton boiler able to hold enough water to cover an area the size of a basketball court to the depth of a high-top shoe.

That's One Big Boy!!  --CootLoc

The Belangiga Bells-- Part 5: After 2017 Years, the Bells Are Back in the Philippines

Efforts to have the bells returned began in 1957 when the Franciscan monks of the Catholic Church said the bells were owned by them and should be returned.  In 1987, the government of the Philippines got involved with returning the bells.

It was discovered that two of them were at Francis E. Warren AFB in Wyoming, but the Air Force refused to give them back.  They continued to try to get them returned during the Clinton administration,   but were told the bells were U.S. property and it would take an Act of Congress to return them.

After that, there were a whole lot of efforts, both U.S. and Philippines to have the bells returned but all failed.  Finally, in 2018, Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis was given the authority to make the decision and he decided to return the bells, the two in Wyoming and one in South Korea.

The bells arrived in the Philippines on December 11, 2018, just five months ago.  On December 14, they arrived in Belangiga.  On the next day, a Sunday, one of the bells was rung for the first time since 1901.

A Happy Ending To A Sad Moment in Time.

The Belangiga Bells-- Part 3: Taken As War Souvenirs

After the massacre, the town was recaptured on September 29, 1901, by Co. G, 9th Infantry.  They departed town the same day and were replaced by Companies K and L of the 11th Infantry.  When the 11th left the town, they took the bells from the destroyed church and a cannon from the plaza in front of it.

The reason for taking them was that one of them had been used to signal the attack that became the massacre.  The smaller bell was the one that started the massacre and  before the 9th shipped off for home, the 11th Infantry gave it to the 9th and it was taken to the Madison Barracks at Sackets Harbor, New York where a brick pedestal was built to display it.

In 1918, it was moved to Fort Lewis in Tacoma, Washington, and later ended up in South Korea at an army base.

The 11th Infantry had the two larger bells and took them with them when they redeployed to Fort D.A. Russell in Cheyenne, Wyoming.  In 1905, the two bells and cannon were displayed by the fort's flag pole with a sign about their significance.

In 1927, Fort Russell was renamed Fort Francis E. Warren which later became Francis E. Warren Air Force Base.

Next, Recovery Attempts.  --Cooter

The Belangiga Bells-- Part 1: Taken As War Trophies

Last month I wrote about the Belangiga Massacre which took place during the Philippines Insurrection in 1901.  That was in relation to Fort Russell in Wyoming where two of the bells ended up as war trophies.  That traced back to Francis E. Warren, a powerful senator from that state and a Civil War Medal of Honor recipient.  This was all part of one of my Road Tripping Through History.

From Wikipedia.

The Belangiga Bells are three bells that were taken by the U.S. Army  from the Church of San Lorenzo  de Martir in Belangiga, Eastern Samar, Philippines, as war trophies following the Belangiga Massacre in 1901.  One ended up at base camp of the 9th Infantry in South Korea and two others at the former base of the 11th Infantry at Francis E. Warren Air Force Base in Cheyenne, Wyoming.

People representing the Catholic Church in the Philippines, the Philippines government and the residents of Belangiga have tried since the 1950s to get these bells returned and they were returned on December 11, 2018, after 117 years.

A Story With a Happy Ending.  --Cooter

Francis E. Warren Air Force Base, Cheyenne, Wyoming

I gave been writing about Francis E. Warren in my Saw the Elephant: Civil War blog.  He is a famous person in Wyoming history, including first governor, a long-serving U.S. Senator and a Civil War Medal of Honor recipient.

One of the honors he received was having this air base named after him.

From Wikipedia.

Located three miles west of Cheyenne, Wyoming, one of three strategic missiles bases in the U.S..  It has no runway for fixed-wing planes, however.  It has never been used by modern-day pilots.

It became famous when World War I flying ace Eddie Rickenbacker crashed his plane on the field and survived.

The base traces its origins back to the Railroad Act of 1862 when plans for the transcontinental railroad were put in place and protection from the Indians was needed.  It evolved from a frontier infantry post to a cavalry post to the current missile facility.

--Cooter