On August 5, 1949, twelve U.S. Forest Service smokejumpers and one district fire guard, a former smokejumper, tragically died when they were overtaken by the flames of the raging Mann Gulch forest fire on the Missouri River in the Helena National Forest. The smokejumpers answered a routine fire call from their base in Missoula, Montana. After successfully landing by parachutes nearby the fire and beginning the process to contain and extinguish the fire, they and the district fire guard were trapped as the fire exploded beneath them.
On the 75th Anniversary of this tragedy, the National Smokejumper Association honored these young men by having association members visit each of the 13 individual gravesites across the United States. There was also a memorial event held in Helena, Montana to commemorate the event.
THE VICTIMS
Robert J. Bennett
Eldon E. Diettert
James O. Harrison (Meriwether Fire Guard)
William J. Hellman
Phillip R. McVey
David R. Navon
Leonard L. Piper
Stanley J. Reba
Marvin L. Sherman
Joseph B. Sylvia
Henry J. Thol, Jr.
Newton R. Thompson
Silas R. Thompson
“ In 1949, the Smokejumpers were still so young that they affectionately referred to all fires they jumped on as “ten o’clock fires,” as if they already had them under control before they jumped. They were still so young that they hadn’t learned to count the odds and to sense they might owe the universe a tragedy”
Norman Maclean, Young Men and Fire
THE FIRE
On Aug. 5, 1949, a team of 15 smokejumpers parachuted into Mann Gulch, a remote canyon northeast of Helena, Montana, to fight a small lightning caused wildfire. They were joined by a recreation specialist/fire guard from the Helena National Forest named James Harrison, who walked into the fire. Making their way down the canyon, the smokejumpers soon found themselves in an ominous situation when the fire exploded into a raging inferno, trapping them on a steep ridge with no escape route.
Despite their training and experience, the smokejumpers struggled to survive against the fast-moving flames that consumed the dry grass and timber around them. Of the 16 men, two of the smokejumpers, Walter Rumsey and Robert Sallee were able to make it to safety at the top of the ridge. Fourteen of the men were overtaken by the smoke and flames. All perished except one who lit a fire in the grass ahead of the approaching fire and positioned himself in the burnt-out area. This was the crew foreman Wagner Dodge who was unable to get others to join him.
Of the 13 men that were killed in this disaster, 11 died in Mann Gulch and two were able to be evacuated to a hospital in Helena but soon died of their injuries. This became one of the deadliest firefighting disasters in U.S. history.
GRAVESITE MEMORIALS
On the 75th Anniversary of this tragedy, the National Smokejumper Association honored these young men by having association members visit each of the 13 individual gravesites across the United States.
Robert J. Bennett
Eldon E. Diettert
James O. Harrison (Meriwether Fire Guard)
William J. Hellman
Phillip R. McVey
David R. Navon
Leonard L. Piper
Stanley J. Reba
Marvin L. Sherman
Joseph B. Sylvia
Henry J. Thol, Jr.
Newton R. Thompson
Silas R. Thompson
HELENA MEMORIAL EVENTS
On the 75th anniversary of the Mann Gulch Fire, a memorial event was held in Helena, Montana that took place from August 4-6, 2024.
Congress, Governor, and Presidential Resolutions:
