December 26, 2003

I went to the Funeral of a young Chico Boy who died in Iraq. SPC Arron R. Clark, it was a very moving service. He was buried with full Military Honors. I thought this young man deserves a spot in this column. Chico Enterprise Record and Orovile Mercury Register, Thursday, December 18, 2003 Farewell to a Soldier by Roger H. Aylworth. Overhead an American Flag, flying at half-staff, snapped in the chill December breeze. Below it, Tamela “Lynn” Clark sobbed quietly as an Army honor Guard folded another American flag that had shrouded the casket of her son. Army Spc. Arron Ray Clark had come home for the last time. Wednesday, about 250 people, including uniformed contingents from the Chico Police Department and the Butte County Sheriff’s Office, gathered in the cavernous sanctuary of the Neighborhood Church to remember Clark, a 20-year old Chico native, who was killed Dec. 5 when a radio-controlled bomb was detonated as he drove by it in Baghdad, Iraq. Clark had been stationed in Iraq since March and re-enlisted there, taking his reenlistment oath in one of Saddam Hussein’s Palaces.
The Arron Clark Memorial Scholarship Trust Fund has been established to provide money to help Chapmantown-area youngsters pay the fees associated with youth sports. Anyone wishing to contribute to the fund can send donations in care of Brusie Funeral Home, 626 Broadway, Chico. Those wishing to send notes or cards to the Clark family can send them in care of the Chico Enterprise-Record, P.O. Box 9, Chico 95927.

Oroville Mercury April 7, 1945

WIFE HEARS OF WILLIS GOSSARD
Word of serious injury to her husband, Willis Gossard, has been received here by Mary Patte Gossard in a letter from him. This was the first news of Gossard that his wife had had since March 8, except for a report by Tokyo radio that the Japanese navy, in a surprise attack on a large American task force near Japan, had damaged and probably sunk two aircraft carriers, one of which was Gossard’s ship. Gossard, the son of Guy Gossard, Route 2 Oroville, is a graduate of Oroville Union High and lived in Oroville all his life before entering the service. A chief quartermaster in the navy, Gossard at 25 is a veteran of eight years service and has seen action in Iceland and in the invasion of Africa. Mrs. Gossard and their two-year old son, Willis Steven, are natives of Providence, Rhode Island. She is employed at the Agricultural Extension Office here.

Stu’s notes: Our Oroville Veterans Memorial is moving along. It has been almost 3 years in the making. In January we should have the results of the Feasibility Study being done by the county. Recently I received information from Bob Jackson and James Lenoff about a young man who died a hero in our Cold War. Lt. Thomas E. Doyle. I had not heard of this brave young man until just this last week. He died trying to get his crippled plane away from a German town in the late 1980’s. As we know this was the case in Oroville when the U-2 Plane went down. More on these brave men later. It’s so sad about Spc. Arron R. Clark, as I read the stories of the past I realized that the young men and women of Butte County do and give so much to our country and many Gave All. No news from Debbie for a long time, she did forward us a poem today, so we know she is ok. She is probably on the road. Being single she will probably get her two weeks off after the Holidays. We are very proud that Time Magazine named her and about 1 million of our American Soldiers, Person of the year. One of her dogs had a puppy that we are keeping we have named it Soldier.