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Jim Landrum Jr. Story Of Camille Had Happy Ending
By JIMMIE BELL i Daily Herald Staff Writer
A tale of irony, heroism, bravery, determination f and a lot of luck was spun in the buzz-saw winds of Hurricane Camille as it beat across West Beach in Gulfport Aug. 17-18: and toward the home of Mr.: and Mrs. James Landrum, 5201 Woodward Ave. And although the storm cost them their home, brought terror, heartache and personal injury, the story winds up with the happiest of all endings.
As the gale winds bore down* the night of the 17th, Mr. and Mrs. Landrum decided it would be best if they spent the night at the brick and concrete city: schools administration building ; on 15th street, where Mr. Lan-; arum is an assistant admini- ■ strator to Supt. W. L. Rigby. And as it turned out, they re-mained high and dry throughout the storm..
However, their son, Jim Jr., 28, decided he would ride out the hurricane at home. He remained there in the complete confidence the storm would not prove any more disastrous than the “terrible hurricane of 1947,” and, secluded, continued an active telephone contact between his parents’ haven and his.
And then the power failed.
From that point the Landrums could not know the ordeal through which their son was subjected. When daylight began showing about 4:30 a.m. and the winds were diminishing, they began making their way home to check on Jim Jr. But they had to detour around the beach because litter had strewn the south side of the city with countless hazards.
Reaching their home from north on W'oodward, the Landrums realized very quickly their neighborhood was more
than a shambles. That it had become a street of dead houses and a tomb for helpless victims. But in their growing fear they fought through the rubble of heaped rooftops and collapsed walls hoping against hope.
In the horror of their discovery, a neighbor had been carried high into a tree by the tide, a large beam pinned across her neck, and there she had died. Mr. Landrum climbed the tree, made an attempt to retrieve the body. The beam would not unwedge itself. -
Now they fought all the harder to find their son. There was no sign of his being alive or not alive. Their search quickened, until Mrs. Landrum happened to step backwards upon a rusty nail. It seemed to give them a cohesive goal. Nothing to do but rush her to Memorial Hospital for a tetanus shot.
As they walked through the door of the emergency room, the nurses ran forward explaining they had been trying for some time to locate the Landrums to tell them their son was in Emergency with apparently nothing wrong but aj pad bump on the head.
“I’ll tell you,” his father said, “you could have the house — you have everything. When we unknowingly were led to where he was, I could not have cared less for the ravages of the storm. My son was alive.
Now comes the most miraculous part: Jim Jr., alone had seen the tide was nearing the ceiling, so he crawled out upon the roof just when the roof of a nearby house was forced into J him, and something struck his: head. He does not know howj long he was unconscious. Butj he only remembers climbing; down to the ground, finding the j tide retreating and crawling j with his hands. His legs seem-! ed paralyzed; they had to be dragged.
His only guide was the misty lights of the three cargo ships which had beached in Gulfport. Each time he crawled too far south, deep water guided him north. Eventually, at 30th i avenue, he was able to stand up [and attempt to walk through ! fallen lines and trees.
: At 13th street a patrol car • stopped, its occupants accused him of looting, his father said, j but he crawled in with the ; climaxing remark, “Okay, but ] take me to the hospital first, ; I don’t feel so good!”	<