Pvt. Onyett, a marine paratrooper, was killed while fighting in the Pacific when a squad to which he had been assigned as a replacement, was ambushed, according to George Lerner, a member of Onyett’s old unit.  Lerner said, Onyett’s former buddies had asked that he write to Calvin Onyett, the marine’s uncle and inform him of Onyett’s death.  Lerner wrote to his sister and requested her to convey the news to Oyett’s relatives.  Onyett enlisted in June, 1942.  He was graduated from Bird Street school and completed high school in Toledo, Ore.  He later attended college in San Mateo.  He worked for the Onyett dairy before going into the service.

Marine Casualty    

Pfc. Lester William Onyett, of Oroville, a Marine paratrooper, was one of the first Butte county men to give his life in the expanding American drive against Japanese bases in the Pacific.  Onyett died when the squad with which he was serving was ambushed, presumably in the Gilberts.  Friends of Onyett said all but three of the men in the squad were killed, and that one of those who came out alive was wounded.  Onyett, formerly employed at Onyett’s dairy here, was a sniper as well as a paratrooper.  He was in New Caledonia, and served on Guadalcanal before going into the action in which he met death.  His mother, Mrs. Leon Clover lives at Rockport, near Ft. Bragg.  His grandmother is Mrs. Sadie Onyett of Oroville, Mrs. Irvin Little of Gridley is an aunt and Calvin Onyett of Oroville is an uncle.