Five years ago:
From my first article, July 5, 2002
“These stories are about the men and women who went to war so that
we might be free. This column is dedicated to all our veterans.
It will use articles taken from past issues of the Oroville Mercury
Register. I recently received a scrapbook made by Ona Couris during
World War II. It is full of newspaper clippings dated December 1944
through May of 1945. It begins with letters from her husband, Tom
Couris and his friend David Loehwing.
By Editor Jack Pank:
Tom was an Oroville businessman for many years before and after
the war. Many of those mentioned in these stories came home but
as you will learn, many young Oroville men did not. They gave the
ultimate sacrifice.
We are starting in the middle of WWII but in the future we will
cover those wars before and after, as the information comes in.
I appeal to the people of Oroville, if you have any articles that
will help us in our research please contact me at 533-8147. I am
the co-chairman, along will Bill Connelly, of the Oroville Veterans
Memorial Committee. Our plans are to build a fitting memorial and
park in Oroville to honor all of our veterans, past and future.”
Please check out our web site, by webmaster Daryl Autrey, at www.orovilleveteransmemorialpark.org
More from “Recollections From Army Days” by Robert C. Brooks
“It was sometime about here that we saw a German jet plane. It came
strafing over our column so fast the first time that no one fired
the 50 caliber machine guns mounted on the Halftracks. We saw it
make a circle back and by that time a few guns did fire at it, but
no hits were made by plane or us. George Pacer of our Mortar Platoon
was in a halftrack, and fired at it. Others, including me, and the
First Sergeant, were in the field off the road, and looked for cover!
We were in column, waiting to move ahead, when we received word
that President Roosevelt had died. It was a sad moment for us. The
war was over soon after this. Our Battalion was moved to Bopfingen,
a village in Bavaria. During the time we were in Bopfingen we saw
how people carried on their daily living. The village and most of
the people could have been right out of the Middle Ages. There was
a “Town Crier” who called out news and proclamations. Peoples’ heads
popped out of windows when he rang his bell and started his cry.
Remains of an old castle were on a hill above the village. Farmers
drove oxen and horses pulling carts to a big stone watering trough
in town. One modern building was the laboratory of Professor Wolfgang
von Finkelnburg. He was an electronic scientist, and had been taken
away by the Americans. We had to keep a guard on it. We weren’t
supposed to touch any of the instruments stored there, but now I
can say that we did, and got one of them to make sparks. When a
small circus came to town it was a big event for old as well as
young. Wagons were horse drawn, and painted red and gold. There
was a lion, a camel, tight rope artists, and dancers, and of course
a Ring Master. A fat man was sitting on a bench in front, and some
little boys in the back made fun of him, laughing and mimicking
him. He turned and scowled at them, then suddenly pulled out a pistol
and pointed it at them. They screamed and ran, but it was a water
pistol, likely, part of the act. Some of the forced laborers from
Poland and Russia didn’t seem to care about leaving and were content
to stay and work on the farms. Lexie Baker and I were finally transferred
by a point system, to a unit on the way home. In 1950 I was recalled,
and was assigned to the Engineer Research and Development Laboratories
at Fort Belvoir, Virginia. Who should I find was teaching at a University
near there but Professor Wolfgang himself! Students said he was
helpful and very precise.” One of my friends made a trip to Germany
in 1996, and stopped at Bopfingen. The town and people are modernized,
spick and span, roads paved, buildings cleaned, painted and restored,
and farms up to date."
(To be continued)
Stu’s Notes: With this column it is 5 full years since I started
writing about Oroville’s Heroes. It still amazes me of their accomplishments;
they truly did help to “Save the World” as my friend Nick Krpan
tells me. I owe a lot of thanks to Carmen Biano. In 5 years she
has not edited out one word that I have written. She has changed
a few at my request at the last minute. Stop the Presses. I’ve always
wanted to sayt that. Carmen allows me to bold the names of our Veterans
Heroes. Most papers don’t do this on a large scale. One time I used
bold print for about 30 men in one story. If you thank Lynn and
I, thank Carmen without her you would not read this. I know of no
other newspaper editor that allows a writer such freedom, which
I respect very highly. That’s why sometimes I say, “Stop the presses,
Carmen, I shouldn’t have said that.”
It is with great sadness that I report that Committee Member
Phillippe Laws has past away of lung cancer. He will be missed.
THANK YOU! THANK YOU! OROVILLE CITY COUNCIL VOTED 6-0 TO GO AHEAD
AND PURCHASE THE TWO HOUSES AND GAVE THE VETERANS MEMORIAL PARK
COMMITTEE THE WHITE HOUSE NEXT TO THE VETERANS MEMORIAL HALL AND
THE VACANT LOT NEXT TO THE BOSS. AFTER SIX LONG YEARS, OUR PROJECT
WILL MOVE FORWARD AT A RAPID PACE!