January 10, 2003

OROVILLE MERCURY REGISTER February 15,1945

IN THE FIGHT
Lt. Daryl Porter returned to Monroe, La., has returned after a visit with his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Chas. E. Porter of Veatch Street. Porter was recently awarded his wings and commissioned as aerial navigator at Selman Field. Representatives of 46 states and the District of Columbia were represented, in the class. The now navigators will be assigned to bomber crews at Replacement Training Centers throughout the country. They will later be sent to combat units in every theater of the war.

PVT. DICK GRAVIER, WINS STUDENT HONORS
In a letter from Dick Gravier, friends have learned he will study radar and radar equipment at Boca Raton, Florida, after having won honors in his previous courses. Dick is the son of H. A. Gravier, a cattleman of Bangor, and graduated from Oroville high school with the class of 1942. He attended the University of California and left there to enter the Army Air Corps last April. He went to Sheppard Field, Texas, for basic training and then to Truax Field, Wisconsin, where he graduated in the upper 5 percent of the class in radio mechanics. Next he took a course in electronics at Chanute Field, Illinois, taking first place in a class of 300.

7 PLANES CRASH WITH LOSS OF EIGHT LIVES
Marines Fly Into Storm Along Coast
San Diego - Seven marine corps fighters and torpedo planes crashed at various points in southern California early today when they flew into a rain storm and fog, the navy announced. Of the-four planes that crashed into the ocean, nine flyers have been rescued. Three missing men were rescued late this morning by a naval patrol boat. Eight men were known to have been killed, three at sea. Two fighter pilots died in attempting a landing on one of the channel islands, and three others were killed when their plane crashed near Bakersfield, Calif. One plane is still missing. The naval control center reported its occupants may have been sighted on a raft. Eleven other planes in the maneuvers were directed to safety by radio. All available rescue equipment was sent to the area, the navy said. Names of the dead were withheld pending notification of next of kin.

HIGH PRAISE FOR UNIT OF WHICH CLEWETT IS A PART
An. Air Service Command Depot, England
High praise from his commanding general opened 1945 for S/Sgt. Marshall L. Clewett formerly of Myers Street, Oroville, Calif. Serving in the vast engine overhaul shops at at this repair depot, he and his fellow soldiers set an all time record in 1944 by sending back into combat more than 17,000 overhauled engines totaling over 21 million horsepower. Commending their battle backing effort, Brig. Gen. Morris Berman declared: "Working for months without days off before D-Day; stepping up their output to meet the demands of airborne operations in Holland; sweating night and day to get planes into the air for every raid over Germany, these men have outdone themselves in the thankless job of backing the 1944 aerial offensive against Germany." A soldier since Feb. 16 1943, Clewett has been overseas for 15 months.

Stu's notes: As reported in a past article, Daryl Porter will never return to Oroville. He will be one of the almost 100 men to be honored on our Memorial, which is moving along, as I speak. There is a street named after him that goes into Hewitt Park, Daryl Porter Way. Although the men killed in this training accident as far as I know had no connection to Oroville, it is an example of how many of our brave young men were lost to training accidents as some of our Oroville boys were.