On a sunny, steamy hot afternoon, July 6, 1944, thousands of fans made their way to Barbour Street in Hartford, Connecticut to see the Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey circus performance. 167 circus fans never went home and 700 more were injured. During the performance a small fire occurred but in the absence of fire extinguishers it soon became a raging inferno and led to what was to become America’s worst circus fire.

In life at moments of crisis we look into ourselves for the strength to carry on. Our love for life and all the riches it can bring leads us through the darkest days and somehow we manage to reach the other side. Slightly battered but true survivors