MIDLAND, Texas - Cheered on by a flag-waving crowd, a parade float loaded with wounded veterans and their spouses was inching across a railroad track when the crossing gates began to lower and a freight train that seemed to come out of nowhere was suddenly bearing down on them, its horn blaring.
Some of those seated on the float jumped off in wide-eyed terror just moments before the train crashed into the flatbed truck.
Four veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan - including an Army sergeant who apparently sacrificed his life to save his wife - were killed Thursday afternoon and 16 people were injured.
Some of the veterans who managed to jump clear of the wreck rushed to help the injured, applying tourniquets and putting pressure on wounds.
"They are trained for tragedy," said Pam Shoemaker of Monroe, La., who was with her husband, a special operations veteran, on a float ahead of the one that was hit.
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A day after the crash, federal investigators were trying to determine how fast the train was going and whether the two-float parade had been given enough warning to clear the tracks.
The National Transportation Safety Board said late Friday that the train was traveling below the 70 mph speed limit.
Mark Rosekind with the NTSB said at a news conference that the Union Pacific train was going 62 mph in a 70 mph zone, according to track image recorders.
Rosekind also said the train's emergency brakes were applied before the accident, but it is unclear how close it was to the float when that happened. The NTSB will test the signals for abnormalities on Saturday.
Meanwhile, locals were struggling to cope with a tragedy at the start of what was supposed to be a three-day weekend of banquets, deer hunting and shopping in appreciation of the veterans' sacrifice.
"It's just a very tragic and sad thing," said Michael McKinney of Show of Support, the local charity that organizes the annual event and invited the two dozen veterans. "It's difficult when you're trying to do something really good and something tragic occurs."
The NTSB's Rosekind offered hope Friday that video would provide a fuller picture of what happened. Cameras were on both the lead car of the Union Pacific train and a sheriff's vehicle that was trailing the flatbed truck, Rosekind said.
Killed were Marine Chief Warrant Officer 3 Gary Stouffer, 37; Army Sgt. Maj. Lawrence Boivin, 47; Army Sgt. Joshua Michael, 34; and Army Sgt. Maj. William Lubbers, 43. One veteran and three spouses remained hospitalized Friday, with one spouse in critical condition.
At the time of the crash, the veterans were on their way to a banquet in their honor.
