WESTERN BUREAU:

The terrifying memory of seven children being killed and several others sustaining injuries in a lightning strike continues to haunt two survivors just over 65 years later.

For 84-year-old Alvan Slack and John Burns, 74, the date August 26, 1943, is etched in history as a day of horror which separated them from some of their schoolmates.

The seven children - all boys - met their tragic death when a bolt of lightning struck the Vaughans-field School, which was housed in the Mission House of the Church in St James.

There were 182 students in attendance when the incident occurred. Twelve of them were seriously injured while dozens sustained minor burns. The building was burnt to the ground.

Slack recalled that jumped through a window to escape. The school had a single door which was bottlenecked by a stampede.

"It all happened so quickly. I remembered on that day, a lot of rain was falling but I have never seen so much rain, not even now.

"I remembered hearing very loud thunder and the next thing I knew, powerful lightning hit the school and set it on fire," Slack told The Gleaner.

Slack recalls that he had not wanted to return to school after going home for lunch, but his mom had scolded him when she learnt of his plans.

"My mother gave me a proper beating and demanded that I go back to school," he said. "But when she heard what happened, she cried and ask me to forgive her because I could've have died when the lightning struck our school."

Specific memories of the day of nature's terror are not as fresh for Burns. However, the emotional after-effects are palpable.

"All I remembered as a child was how terrified and saddened I was when the incident occurred and in the end realising that some of my friends died," Burns told The Gleaner.

Burns, who now lives in the United Kingdom, organised a special 65th memorial earlier this year to honour those who died in Vaughansfield.

sheena.gayle@gleanerjm.com

The children who lost their lives

Alphonso Clarke

Owen Bowen

Obediah Thompson

Benjamin James

William Bond

Wesley Grizzle

Iran Vernon