November 8, 2002
Oroville Mercury January 22nd and 27th 1945
LT. CAMPBELL NOW AT NEW MEXICO AIRFIELD
Lt. Robert A. Campbell, son of Mrs. Inez E. Thatcher, Oroville,
has reported for duty at the Carlsbad Army Air Field, Carlsbad,
New Mexico. His wife is the former Bonnie Jane Thatcher, Oroville,
California. He was commissioned March 27, 1943 upon completion of
cadet training at Albuquerque, New Mexico.
LUCY PRADO HANDY NOW IN SHOOTING PISTOL
Pfc. Lucy Prado of the Marine Corps. Women's Reserve was
a prize winner in an individual pistol match held at Camp Matthews,
San Diego, recently. She enlisted in the Marines about a year and
half ago and was assigned to the rifle range detail. A letter home
tells of a dinner given at the La Jolla Beach Club by the recreation
department honoring officers and enlisted members who have completed
one year of service at the camp. it was attended by women from all
over the United States.
T/S Robert B. Land of the 820th Ordinance Base Depot Co.
is the youngest son of Mr. and Mrs. A. H. Land and prior to his
induction into the army operated the R. B. Land store at Feather
Falls. In a letter headed "Somewhere in France" he tells of meeting
Capt. Clyde Masteller, a former Oroville boy whose wife and son
are living here. They had been working in the same building for
some time but neither knew the other was there until they met by
accident. Capt. Masteller is the commanding officer of an ordinance
evacuation company.
LEVULETTE ASKS TO GO BACK; GETS TINIAN ISLAND POST
M-SGT. Wilmer (Tine) Levulett has been stationed in Tinian Island
four miles south of Saipan, following his request for reassignment
overseas. He is crew chief at a B-29 bomber base there, having charge
of the ground crews of three B-29s. Levulett observed his 26th birthday
Jan. 6. He is the son of Mrs. Norma Wallace of Yreka and Morgan
Levulett of Oroville.
WM. RIFFEY LEAVES FOR SAN DIEGO AFTER VISIT HOME
William Riffey, S 2-C, has returned from the South Pacific, where
he was on a destroyer for the past 14 months. He has been spending
a month at the home of his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Roscoe Riffey of
Forbestown while waiting his turn to enter the San Diego Naval Hospital
for treatment of an injured knee sustained while on board ship.
Mr. and Mrs. Riffey have another son, Robert Riffey, who is a seaman
first class aboard an aircraft carrier somewhere on the Atlantic.
The boys enlisted in the Navy in Burbank about two years ago. They
both hope to be home on leave in about two months when they will
have a chance to visit together.
Stu's notes: My family and I moved to Oroville from Pennsylvania,
shortly after the war in 1946. My grandmother, Betty Mills and my
uncle, Stanley Shaner, who spent three years in the war in
Europe, bought the old Masteller Chicken Farm in Thermalito and
invited my family to live with them and run the Chicken ranch. Lynn
and I are still living on that old Chicken Farm!