ABSTRACT
US sailors, marines, and coastguardsmen - many on leave from active service in Europe - with their wives and girlfriends. There were also many American football fans who earlier that day had been to a ganle in which undcr-<logs Holy C ross had beaten red-hot favorites Boston by 55 to 12. The exact number in the club at the time is unknown, but it is thought to have been in the region of 1000.
