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October 24, 2003
“Some Gave All”
In the words of his high school friend Gertrude Bartley:
Daryl Porter
had a younger brother Jim who may still be in Oroville, and an older brother Charles. Daryl and I were part of a group of friends who went through high school together from 1939 to 1943. Daryl was a rather shy, quiet, freckle-faced boy with an engaging grin. He was well liked by everyone. He was vice-president of our class in our junior year, editor of the Nugget yearbook in 1943, and played varsity basketball. In 1942 a government requested pre-induction course in pre-flight was begun, and Daryl enrolled. In his senior year he was also a lieutenant in Company I of the high school cadet corps. After graduation in June 1943 our classmates scattered. I entered U. C. Berkeley’s accelerated program and have no memory of Daryl’s training experiences although all of us exchanged letters occasionally. Perhaps someone else can provide you with that information. My next memory must be about the Fall of 1944, if you have the date of Daryl’s commission you will know. Daryl came by our home in Oroville to tell my father he was now a second lieutenant and had his navigator wings. (In those days pupils, teachers, and principals were friends) I happened to be home on vacation from U.C. We had been talking about my cousin Durston Hildebrand who was also an Air Corps navigator flying on bombers in England. As we were talking the telephone rang. It was my Aunt Nell in Oakland telling us they had just been informed that Durston’s plane had been shot down and he was missing. I remember that Daryl just wilted. Not long after, Daryl was in the Bay Area for assignment and had arranged to meet me in Berkeley for dinner and a movie. The afternoon of that day he telephoned, simply saying that he could not come and knew I would understand why. When later he sent me his overseas address, we wrote just chatty letters about home, mutual friends and school. Then came the day when I received from a military chaplain a small packet of my last letters to Daryl marked “Missing in Action”. I said nothing about this until I heard from my parents that his family had been notified. Of our close group of friends, only Daryl and Arlin Rhine were killed, but several were wounded. In 1962-64 we were stationed in the Philippines. We had the opportunity to go to Manila to see the beautiful war memorial there. It is dedicated to those who gave their lives in the battle for the Philippines. Tall pillars bear the name, unit, and hometown of each person and a directory is available to help one find the name desired as we found Daryl’s. Whatever the feeling in the Philippines now, the older generation reveres the men who gave their lives to free the Philippines.

Oroville Mercury Register July 7, 1944

OROVILLE MEN TRAINING AT TEXAS AIR CENTER

SAN ANTONIO AVIATION CADET CENTER, Tex.
Two Oroville men, Lawrence Cole Phillips and Daryl W. Porter, are among those undergoing training here. The men are potential pilots, bombardiers and navigators. They will undergo a 10-week program of instruction.

Stu’s notes: I wrote before about Daryl, even ran his picture in the Oroville Mercury Register, Jan. 10,2003. Also I mentioned the street Daryl Porter Way, the entrance to Hewitt Park. Gertrude says as far as she knows he was never found. One more reason to go on with our MIA/POW Ceremony annually, and we will. We will include more of Gertrude’s stories in the future. Mrs. Esther Bartley, Gertrude’s mother-in-law, was my 7th grade teacher at Thermalito School in 1952. We both agree she was a wonderful woman.