On January 11, 1917 a fire started at Building 30 of the Canadian Car and Foundry Company in Kingsland, New Jersey (now Lyndhurst). The United States of America was not an active participant in World War One at the time, although she was selling arms to the British and Russians. The Kingsland factory was generating 3,000,000 shells a month which were shipped to Russia. This made the plant an ideal target for German saboteurs. They started the fire and at least 500,000 explosive shells reduced the factory to rubble.
As this was happening Theresa Louis "Tessie" McNamara, the company switchboard operator, stayed at her post contacting the police and fire department and every building to alert them with the phrase, “Get out or go up!” to ensure everyone had evacuated. She was credited with saving 1400 lives that day, and as a result of her efforts no one died. Once this was complete she made her own escape out of the way of an inferno. Firemen who arrived on the scene assisted her to safety. While her heroism made her a national celebrity she shunned the publicly and lived our the rest of her life quietly. She passed away at the age of 78 in 1972. Today there is a park in Lyndhurst that bears her name. In 1979 Germany paid war reparations for the damage caused by the fire admitting no responsibility.
-Professor Walter
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