'67 Footage

[Detroit Signal]

I have never seen this before. You guys??

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LaDPcqbnr78

[Detroitnerd]

Five-finger discount!

[gazhekwe]

Wow! That burning and burnt smell comes back just like that. I worked in that neighborhood four years later, and I swear, you could still smell it.

Those army vehicles I thought were tanks, are they? The ones with the big guns on top?

[SMRJim]

Wow! That burning and burnt smell comes back just like that. I worked in that neighborhood four years later, and I swear, you could still smell it.

Those army vehicles I thought were tanks, are they? The ones with the big guns on top?

Can't say whether they're actual tanks or not, but I remember seeing them driving down Grand River. I was on the NW side, far from the riot area, but I distinctly remember seeing army vehicles driving through the neighborhood down Grand River. Some truckloads of National Guardsmen stopped at St Marys of Redford church to pray one day. I remember talking to some of them - I wasn't quite 7 years old, it was a big thrill for me to talk to someone in the army. I think that they had people over by the Grand River/Greenfield shooping center to make sure nothing happened there. I told someone one time that I remembered seeing tanks [[which, if they're not tanks, they certainly resemble them, especially to a kid) and they told me I was nuts, that they would never send tanks in for a city riot. Well they certainly sent those vehicles, whatever they're called. I still remember being in our backyard at night when the curfew was on, thinking I'd be arrested if I went out to the front of the house!

[lizaanne]

Way too depressing to watch all the way through - knowing that not much has been done to fix a lot of that damage since then. My guess is that Haiti will recover faster from the earthquake than Detroit did [[or didn't) from the riots.

[punky1]

John Conyers during the riots.

U.S. Rep. John Conyers [[D-Mich.) speaks through a megaphone to a crowd at 12th and Clairmount streets on Sunday, July 23, in an attempt to quell rising tensions. "Stay cool, we're with you!" Conyers shouted. He was chased from the area.

Link to this photo and 50+ others. http://info.detnews.com/pix/photogal...92007_67riots/

[Jimaz]

Part 2/2 of the video. This is a recent YouTube contribution. I hadn't seen it before now.

[Mick]

Yes, it was a tank. There were also armored personnel carriers

[gnome]

yeah, everyone remembers seeing tanks, but no one remembers seeing a looter.

[Jimaz]

Vintage detroit police stills set to "What a Wonderful World" as sung by Louis Armstrong. This is from the same contributer.

[One Shot]

My Dad said he used to sit on the porch of his apartment back in the day and watch the tanks drive up and down 8 mile.

[lpg]

I grew up in Lincoln Park, right off Fort Street. I was 17 when the riots broke out. I remember the curfew and the gas stations being shut down. No sales of gas in any container. After the federal troops were called in, I was sitting on my folks porch after curfew and seeing very little traffic on Fort, I began to hear a rumbling sound approaching from the south. It was a large convoy heading north towards Detroit. While the jeeps and 6x6s, and weapons carriers were going by I saw a jeep with a machine gun mounted on it,driving through the alley parallel to the convoy providing security. That was a very erie sight.
One of my high school friends stopped by to talk while he was on his way down the street to visit his girlfriend. I told him it was after curfew. He said he wasn't worried. When he left my folks porch, he only made it to my next door neighbors walk when the LP police drove up and arrested him for curfew violation.

[SteadySky]

I wasn't born until 1969. My mom and dad told me about armored personnel carriers and heavy trucks carrying troops coming right down Gratiot Avenue. After spending time in the active army I spent time in the Army National Guard. This goes back at least 15 years, but some old timers who were close to leaving the guard spoke about those times and said that they mounted the weapons they had regardless of size and went on duty. Now we are smarter and know to hold back the heavy machine guns, etc.

I did not know him, but my old infantry unit [[1/225 Infantry) in the guard had a First Sergeant who opened up on a sniper with a 50 caliber machine gun on a APC. Killed the sniper and tore off the corner of the building, too. But he also killed a little girl who was in the next room. Total tragedy. I know some say that it was not a sniper, but as it was told to me he definitely came under fire. I've heard some say it was just someone with a cigarette, etc. I don't buy that either. But having the heavy firepower available makes little sense.

What a senseless and stupid thing the riots were. I hope we never experience anything like that ever again.

[ptero]

Our Church, Strathmoor Methodist on Schoolcraft, had a number of spaghetti dinners for the guard [[or whoever all the soldiers were). They would show up in jeeps and armored carriers in full uniform w/weapons for a bit of church feeding. I woulda been 14.

We also collected food and clothing. When there was enough to fill the Church bus, we loaded it up and took it to a storefront dropoff on Grand River near Grand Blvd. Aside from the driver [[our Minister), they allowed just two of us to come along to help unload - but due to snipers, we had to lay on the floor with all the goods piled on all seats and the floor.

I went twice, the first Tuesday and the following Tuesday. My biggest memory of those trips, aside from the armed escort [[2 jeeps iirc) and laying low, is seeing the John C Ivory storage bldg on Grand River clearly burning and smoldering - both times!

[stasu1213]

I had heard that more than 100 people were killed during the 67 riots. Are there any links that I could go to for research

[Philbo]

According to Sydney Fines book " Violence In The Model City" the 100 dead count was never confirmed. He reports that investigators frome both the Detroit News and Free Press examined records frome local morgues and that the 43 dead count was accurate. However, most D.P.D officers I've talked to swear the number was higher.

[Mick]

It was the guard west of Woodward, the 82nd and the 101st east of Woodward.

[Meddle]

100? HA!! The way I heard it was something like "If there were 40 dead, there were more like 400" I doubt that number, but you can bet you life there were more than 40.

He reports that investigators frome both the Detroit News and Free Press examined records frome local morgues and that the 43 dead count was accurate.

That's only the ones that made it into the records. Some were lost in fires and incinerated. I also heard that some were dumped down manholes or into the river.

E42/L21 at W.Chicago & Livernois was a command post. Guardsmen with M-1 rifles rode with all fire trucks.

Heard one story of a sniper faced down by the barrel of a tank. Shots came out of a window, but when the tank gunner turned the turret towards the house, the guy bailed. [[wouldn't you?)

Heard sporadic stories of activity on Grand River as far west as Hubbell.


From the old board: http://atdetroit.net/forum/messages/6790/85676.html

Lots of good info on that thread, many pictures and links.

[Meddle]

This is a page that lists the official list of casualties: http://www.67riots.rutgers.edu/d_victims.htm


Among them are:

John Ashby. Died 8/4/67 of injuries sustained on 7/34/67 at 7am. Ashby a 26 year-old white male, served as a firefighter with the Detroit Fire Department, Engine 21. He was electrocuted by a high-tension wire that struck his helmet while fighting a fire at a supermarket at Lafayette and Canton on Detroit’s East Side. He died a few weeks later at Detroit General Hospital as a result of burns and infection.

Carl Smith a 30-year-old white male firefighter died 7/25/67 at 12:50am. Carl Smith had worked for the Detroit Fire Department for five years and reportedly was a good father to his kids. He did not hesitate to join the fire team as they attempted to restore calm to the riot area. Smith was attempting organize units at Mack and St. Jean to quell some of the fires. At that point, gunshots were fired and chaos broke out. At the end of the gunfire, Smith was lying dead on the ground. It is unclear who fired the shots that killed Smith. Nobody was held criminally responsible for his death.

Jerome Olshove was, from all indications, a cop with a bright future until his life was ended on 7/25/67 at 3:35am. Olshove was a member of the Detroit Police Department for eight years. He was the only policeman killed in the riot. It was around 3 am on Tuesday morning when the National Guard fire shots into A&P supermarket at 121 Holbrook. Olshove then arrived at the scene with several other officers. Only a few looters remained in the store. They were instructed to surrender. One man, CharlesLatimer, voluntarily surrendered, but the other man, Danny Royster, resisted. A scuffle ensued between Royster and another officer, Patrolman Roy St.Onge. As Royster attempted to grab for St. Onge’s shotgun the gun discharged, wounding Officer Olshove who was standing nearby. Royster and Latimer were charged with first-degree murder although evidence suggests that Olshove’s death was an accident.

Larry Post, shot 7/26/67 around 1am. Post was Sergeant in the National Guard who had a keen interest in cars. Larry was on duty on Wednesday July 26 at a checkpoint area on Dexter. He observed a car occupied with three white males approaching and ordered them to stop, firing his weapon in the air. The order was ignored, the car accelerated, and shots were fired by the other Guardsmen on duty. After the exchange, Post was found wounded with a gunshot to the stomach. He succumbed to his injuries and died at the Henry Ford Hospital On August 9, 1967.. His assailants according to police report were listed as “unknown”. However, another source claimed one of the men was captured and beaten in police custody

[Quonset Hut]

Bob Baldori and the Woolies were cranking on that music...

[Danny]

Detroit burned in 1801 but it rises from its ashes.

Detroit burned in 1863 but it rises from its ashes.

Detroit burned in 1943 but it rises from its ashes.

Detroit burned in 1967 but it rises from its ashes.

Detroit kept on burning from 1968 to the present but it rises from its ashes.


WORD FROM THE STREET PROPHET

SPERAMVS MELIORA RESVRGET CINNERIBVS.

Neda

[daddeeo]

It's taking longer than usual to rise from the ashes this time. Rebuilding just didn't occur in many places.
Lot of people just left instead.
Yes, the National Guard was at Grand River and Greenfield. As I recall, only the Meyers Jewelry store got broken into.