MARS BLUFF, SC (WBTW) – A 7,000-pound atomic bomb accidentally fell from a U.S. Air Force plane sixty years ago on March 11, 1958, in the Mars Bluff area of Florence

Walter Gregg Jr. was seven years old when the bomb fell in his families yard.

“My father [Walter Gregg Sr.] and I were in the garage. We were making some benches. We were going to eat some hot dogs that afternoon. It was a normal day. A normal jet flying over and all of a sudden it sounded like it crashed. But that was the bomb that fell out of it,” said Gregg.

Gregg says what happened after was a nightmare he often tries to forget about.

The family of six including him, dad, mom, two sisters, and cousin had small cuts from the bomb debris.

“The dirt coming down was tearing up everything. Daddy leaned over me to protect me. He was cut all on his back from the debris and everything falling. He stayed over me and as we walked out of the garage I looked up. The pine trees were like a concussion. Limbs were breaking like an ice storm and all the dirt was coming down,” he explained. “Mama had cuts. She was in the house. All the plaster and everything fell in. My sisters and a cousin were out playing by a playhouse. Something flew and hit my cousin Ella Davis. It cut a chunk out of her forehead. It healed and she was fine. The extent of damage or injury was minor to what could have happened.”

Luckily, the bomb was disarmed and did not go off. But the Gregg house was destroyed and the family could not return to their house for about two weeks.

“It damaged just about everything from clothes, the house, the cars, you name it. We really didn’t have much of anything left. I can feel for people that…lost everything to a house burned or lost everything in a flood,” he said. “We didn’t even have a toothbrush or any clothes. We had to borrow from cousins. It was a tough time. At times I kind of push it to the side and try to forget it.”

The Gregg family sued the U.S Air Force to repurchase items.

“Family-wise, it set up back awhile because we lost everything. Until we caught back up and moved into town. My mother did not want to come back to love here,” he said. “A lot of people don’t understand, we would come back here [to our house] after the Air Force moved out. We’d come by to get things out of the house and there would be people digging up the flowers.”

 

The family was awarded $54,000 thousand dollars. Which is nearly equivalent to $463,142.49 today.

“People come up to me know and say, ‘Yall came out rich’ I just shake my head and walk off because Daddy had to sue them to get anything,” he said. “There were a lot of negatives here that people don’t even realize.”

The land is no longer owned by the Gregg family.

The Florence County Historical Commission and local boy scout troops helped create a small memorial on the site.