January 2, 2004

Oroville Mercury Register April 10, 1945

BROWN COMPLETES NAVAL AIR TRINING
Preparing for service in a branch of naval aviation, Ronald Leslie Brown, S2/c of Bridge Street has completed his training at the U. S. Naval Air Training Technical Center at Norman, Okla., Twelfth Naval District headquarters said today. He now is slated for transfer to a naval unit afloat or to another shore station for further instruction and work. He is the son of Mr. and Mrs. Clyde I. Brown on Bridge St. He attended Oroville Union High School, and College of the Pacific.

PFC. SAM PAPPAS REALLY POURS IT ON
With an Eleventh Corps Tank Battalion on Luzon- Pfc. Sam Pappas of Oroville made his 75 mm tank gun sound like a machine-gun during a recent action. Blasting at a Japanese infested building, Pappas loaded 23 rounds in two minutes and watched with pleasure as each projectile plowed into a stubborn enemy. “Fastest loaded piece in the history of mobile warfare,” he said modestly.

SGT. DEBBIE SHANER, IRAQ
“Hello all, well I am happy to say we finally got our internet set up at the tent but they are still working out some of the bugs. We have had it since the day before Christmas, but it was not working very good. We are on a satellite dish set up by an Iraqi Co. out of Baghdad. They came back today and readjusted the dish. It was apparently bouncing off the cement pillions we have surrounding our tents. They will be back tomorrow to make some more adjustments and hopefully I will have my line hooked up in my living area. We had an Iraqi meal from a restaurant in Baghdad for Christmas Eve. It was lamb, chicken, rice, beans and other dishes I can’t identify. It was good stuff but sure different. The Iraqi interpreters from the yard where we pick up the trucks brought it up from Baghdad for us. One of the drivers brought us a tree, a real Charlie Brown one. On Christmas we had a BBQ at Hq’s with T-bone steak and chicken and of course non alcoholic beer. And for New Years I might be able to get some non alcoholic bubbly if the PX still has some yipee!! It looks like my platoon will be stuck mostly at the CDC yard getting the Iraqi trucks loaded and downloaded to and from missions and bringing them from the yard. We will be lucky if we get any missions on the road other then from the yard and back. You might say that it is safer to stay on Post but the missions really give us a break from being stuck here and most of our trucks have finally been hardened. It looks like we will be here until the end of April still. We are supposed to be leaving almost all of our equipment and our big guns for other units to use so we won’t have to worry about packing a lot to go home. We will have to have a yard sale to get rid of all our 220 volt stuff, like my fridge I bought from a unit going home to Stockton. It has been wet and muddy here most days and gets pretty chilly at night. I hope everyone had a great Christmas and please have a fun safe New Years. I’ll have to make up for it next year!! See ya, Debbie”

Stu’s notes: An Oroville Veterans Memorial Park update; The search goes on for those who lost their lives during time of war, from the Oroville High School District. I went to the cemetery on a rainy day this week to put flowers on my Mother and Father’s graves, I took a walk in the rain. I came upon the name Jay Edward Richards Jr. 19 year old serviceman who died Oct. 1 1967. This is of course the Vietnam War time and our Memorial will honor these young men who died while in the service of our country. I need more information on this young man. Also I met Rob Kabel who works at the cemetery and told him about my research and he took me to the grave of a family friend, John Robert Young. Rob said he died in a car wreck coming home from boot camp, August 16, 1969. If anyone knows more about these men call me. Also last week I talked about Lt. Thomas E. Doyle, seems many people in Oroville knew about him but just didn’t think to tell me. Howard Fairbanks said he was such a bright upward bound young man. Doug Krause, WWII bomber gunner and committee member knew him. Now all will know about this brave young Oroville man. If anyone who reads this knows of any Oroville service man or service woman who died while serving our country let me know. I will print a list of those that I have found next week so my readers will know who we’ve found so far. Atlas Travel is planning a tour to Europe, Normandy and has offered to donate money for every person who takes this trip. We will have more information next week. It was sure nice to hear from Debbie.