Muncie Evening Press from Muncie, Indiana • Page 28

THE MUNCIE EVENING PRESS, FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 26, 1980 Shaken Americans tell of wild desert flight from Iraq PAGE 28 York who said he'd return to Iraq. "As a matter of fact, I would have stayed but they wouldn't let us," he said. Oil worker Raymond Delunna of Woodville, Texas, who was also evacuated through Kuwait, arrived in Amsterdam with only the clothes he wore. He was treated there for shrapnel wounds in his arm and leg. "I just hurt my arm and my left leg and kind of got shocked," Delunna said.

"I was in the petrochemical complex and we were beginning to ctart up when the Iranian planes came in." He said he escaped by diving uninvited aboard a departing pickup truck carrying his company's executives out of Basra. "People were lining the dusty road and jumping onto any vehicle they could. It was pandemonium. It certainly was not a planned evacuation, if that is what you have heard it was," said Briceson Cook, 31, of Houston. "There was a contingency plan to get the top people out but as for the rest of us, it was every man for himself," he said.

Another Texan, however, said the exodus was "orderly." Doug Guillot, 35, a Foster Associates refinery worker employed at the Basra complex, said he and his co-workers began evacuating immediately after the bombing began Tuesday. "We just took our time," he said. "Nobody got real excited. It was orderly. There wasn't anybody running over each other." After packing, Guillot said he and about 100 American, British and German workers drove about 30 miles to Kuwait and made arrangements to go home.

The Mauriceville, Texas, resident, dressed in baseball-style cap, jeans and cowboy boots, arrived back home Thursday night. In New York, Arnold Vogel, director of marketing for the Lummus commented on Cook's charges that the company evacuated its executives and ignored the workers. "I have no explanation for that employee's remark," he said. "I believe he is very wrong. The fact is that we moved 1,000 people out to Kuwait as quickly as possible." Edwards was the only employee willing to talk to the press in New By HENRY G.LOGEMAN United Prcas International American workers who fled the Persian Gulf saw their homes explode under bombs, weathered a chaotic escape through the desert and felt lucky to have made it home alive.

For others, the ordeal continues. "The bomb hit square in my bedroom," said Jack Edwards, 62, of White, as he arrived at New York's Kennedy Airport "Thursday. "I lost everything." Edwards was one of a group of 72 workers for the C.E. Lummus construction company of Bloomfield, N.J., who returned to the United States after being evacuated from the bombed port city of Basra, Iraq. Lummus officials said 38 more employees would be arriving from Iraq today.

In Texas, employees of Foster Associates also working on the Basra facility landed at the Houston Intercontinental Airport Thursday night. U.S. Embassy officials in Baghdad, Iraq, said another 51 Americans had piled on a bus and headed for Amman, Jordan an 18-hour journey across the southern Syrian desert. At the start of the border war Monday, about 700 Americans were in Iraq. Some 300 of them worked in the oil refinery complex at Basra, which was heavily bombed and strafed by Iranian jets.

"I'm not going back," said a shaken Frank Binnind, a painting superintendent from Baton Rouge, who arrived home Thursday. "I'm just glad I'm alive." In Amsterdam, Holland, another American evacuee claimed the flight from Iraq was a chaotic one. Renter al farh Location for 3 $100 Gift Certificate' Downtown. and Muncie Mall 'rowing Mem. Wo Purchase Necessary Need not be Present to Wm.

7l WALNUT PLAZA ATTRACTIONS SHOP 10-8 10-5 12-5 10-5 FRI. Noontime Concert 9 A.M. Bed Race 10 A.M. Big Wheel Race 11 A.M. Pumpkin Pie Eating Contest Art, Crafts, etc.

A STORE WIDE SAVINGS UP TO 50 AND MORE ON THE SIDEWALK AND INSIDE, TOO. 1. i We've Cot f() Cardinal U'Lrfl .1 n. am 11 Cm rr- 1 MSlll i colleienne shop: BUT iOjUL MIAMI! Lr TEARFUL WELCOME An unidentified woman is welcomed back home after her arrival at New York's Kennedy Airport Thursday. She was one of many American workers fleeing the war-torn Persian Gulf.

Most of the workers, who held jobs in Iraq, skirted reporters who awaited their arrival at the airport. One worker who did talk, however, vowed never to return to Iraq. UP I. WEATHER- Sunny skies nipped by threat of frost fe' I Bring in any Wearable fj I Coat or Jacket and rtf'' 1 iKy Wl you will Receive yL You may 1 t' IL A Infants Girls 4-14 I jwU IST Toddlors 2-4 Boys 4-6 I Favorite Coys G-20 (Downtown) I Charity. Vs-c I By United Press International Much cooler air invaded Indiana today, setting the stage for possibly the first frost of the season tonight.

The National Weather Service said scattered light frost could develop over northeastern Indiana tonight as temperatures dip into the mid-30s. However, the frost duration should be only a few hours, the weather service said. Lows elsewhere in the state should be in the 40s. Partly cloudy skies covered northern Indiana today while sunny conditions prevailed elsewhere. The weather service said the entire state should enjoy sunny skies Saturday.

No rain was mentioned in the forecast through next Tuesday. Highs today headed into the 60s to around 70 and should be in the 60s and 70s Saturday. Readings will ease back into the 70s statewide Sunday and may hit the 70s and 80s Monday and Tuesday. Lows over the weekend should be mostly In the 40s and 50s. A cold front swept through the South, bringing downpours to Texas and thundershowers to most of the lower Mississippi Valley.

Up to 9 inches of rain fell on parts of central Texas Thursday. The showers headed west, and a flash flood watch was posted early today for southwestern Texas and New Mexico. Flooding was reported in creeks and draws near San Antonio, where 9 inches of rain had fallen by Thursday afternoon. Austin reported over 1 Inches and more than an inch fell at Carlsbad early today as the showers moved west across Texas and into New Mexico. Thundershowers also were scattered across the Northeast early today.

Nearly an inch oX rain was reported in spots near the New York-Pennsylvania border. Today's almanac Today is Friday, Sept. 26, the 270th day of 1979 with 96 to follow. The moon is moving toward its last quarter. The morning stars are Venus, Jupiter and Saturn.

The evening stars are Mercury and Mars. Those born on this date are under the sign of Libra. American composer George Gershwin was born on Sept. 26, 1898. On this date in history: In 1777, British troops occupied Philadelphia during the American Revolution.

In 1950, U.N. troops took Seoul, the capital of South Korea, from North Korean Communist forces. In 1959, the worst typhoon in Japanese history left 4,464 dead. In 1972, the United States proposed a new world monetary system to allow greater flexibility in exchange rates. A thought for the day: American clergyman Rctnhold Mebuhr said, "Man's capacity for justice makes democracy possible but man's inclination to Injustice makes democracy necessary.

Temperatures City Fcst Hi Lo Albuquerque cy 78 55 Anchorage cy 50 45 Ashevillec 74 61 Atlanta pc 88 68 Billings 67 43 Birmingham pc 77 65 Boston pc 65 54 Brownsville, 92 67 Buffalo cy 67 50 Charleston, S.C. 92 76 Charlotte, N.C. 78 67 Chicago 73 42 Cleveland cy 69 51 Columbus 71 51 Dallas cy 85 70 Denver pc 69 46 Des Moines 63 36 Detroit pc 71 46 Duluth pc 48 27 El Paso 82 59 Hartford pc 63 52 Honolulu 89 74 Houston 90 75 Indianapolis 77 42 Jackson, Miss. 90 70 Jacksonville 92 70 Kansas City 67 38 Las Vegas 95 64 Little Rock pc 75 58 Los Angeles pc 82 63 Louisville 74 51 Memphis pc 77 61 Miami Beach pc 87 79 Milwaukee 63 40 Minneapolis 54 31 Nashville pc 74 56 New Orleans 93 75 New York pc 70 57 Oklahoma City 81 60 Omaha 63 41 Philadelphia pc 65 64 Phoenix pc 103 76 Pittsburgh cy 75 50 Portland, Me. 62 53 Portland, Ore.

82 54 Providence pc 62 53 Richmond pc 76 70 St. Louis 78 46 Salt Lake City 78 49 San Antonio 95 76 San Diego pc 73 66 San Francisco 67 55 San Juan 92 77 Seattle 72 49 Spokane 70 42 Tampa pc 90 76 Washington 75 71 Wichita cy 73 53 Toll now at 853 INDIANAPOLIS (LTD Indiana's 1980 traffic fatality toll stood today at 855, compared with 918 a year ago. Register ef each Location for 3 1109 Gift Certlficatei Downtown, Colleglenne, Muncie Moll during Octoberfett Sketched are a few of many stylet Include! Quilted Styles, Rabbit Fur, Ski Wear, Wools..