Oroville Mercury Register
January 8, 1953
News From Oroville Men In The Service
Ralph Doyle Ford, son of Mr. and Mrs. J. K. Cadwell, Robinson street,
Oroville, has returned to Amarillo Air Force Base after spending
his holiday leave with his parents. Ford Joined the Air Force after
graduating from Oroville Union High School in June, 1952. He took
his basic training at Parks Air Force Base and is now taking a general
jet course at the Air Force school in Amarillo.
Pvt. Marion D. Boelman is reported en route to Europe where he is
expected to be assigned to a motor pool as a mechanic. The young
Oroville serviceman entered the Army on June 12, and received his
training at Ft. Ord. His wife, Charlotte, resides on Power House
Hill road, and his mother, Mrs. A. M. Norris, resides at Biggs.
Charles E. Rogers, aviation structural mechanic airman, USN, son
of Mr. and Mrs. Clarence R. Rogers of Route 1, Oroville is serving
aboard the attack aircraft carrier USS Oriskany with Attack Squadron
923 off Korea. Recently, three Panther jets of the Oriskany, shot
down two MIGs and damaged two others only 35 miles distant from
the Task Force. The destroyed MIGs were the fourth and fifth credited
to Naval and Marine pilots since the outbreak of the Korean conflict.
It’s a new rate to seaman, USN, for Dan L. Long, son of Mr. and
Mrs. Trevor J. Long of Route 3, Oroville. He is serving aboard the
light cruiser USS Manchester. The Manchester has completed two tours
of duty in the Korean combat zone. During the 17 months she has
fired more than 44,000 rounds of major caliber ammunitions at Communist
targets.
Pfc. Frederick William Brill is home at Lake Madrone with his grandparents,
Mr. and Mrs. Van Cortell on a 27-day leave. Brill is with the 3rd
Marine Division at Camp Joseph H. Pendleton. He has seen 10 months
service at Camp Pendleton. Just before his leave, Brill went on
a13 day maneuver on the desert near Twenty-nine Palms. He expects
to be in the states at least until April. He will return to his
base on Jan. 12. A New Year’s Eve party was given in Brill’s honor
at the Lake Madrone Tradin’ Post. The guests danced and enjoyed
pot luck refreshments. Some of the guests attending were: Mr. and
Mrs. Belcher and Donna of Brush Creek, Mr. and Mrs. Russell Lang,
Mr. and Mrs. Van Cortell and Katherine, Mr. and Mrs. Sfc. Stillman
Cortell, Mr. and Mrs. Arnold Voth, Mrs. Lulella Converse, Mrs. Carol
Sweet, Mr. and Mrs. Ford Shaffer of Woodland and daughter Susan,
Miss Sally Ebell, also of Woodland, Mr. and Mrs. Lyle Walensky,
Mr. and Mrs. Ernest Wussow, Mr. and Mrs. John Elmer, Mr. and Mrs.
Bob Buckallew from Oroville, Mr. and Mrs. Jim Stoney, Ernest Cayton,
Mr. and Mrs. Fred Jones from Oroville, Mr. and Mrs. Louis Wyman
and Mr. and Mrs. Bill Stevens.
This next article is from Ned Harrison, an old Oroville Dam Worker
and Retired Laborer, and mostly a hard rock Miner. It is a long
story so it will take a few weeks to tell it all. A Man Called ‘Jarhead’
To his many friends he was known simply as “Jarhead,” a moniker
he earned as a U. S. Marine. Jarhead passed away, June 29, 2003,
at the age of 70. His real name was Leonard Steege, and his goddaughter,
Dusty Sample, a young Apache Junction businesswoman, submitted this
story to the News.” A native Oregonian, Steege, a gruff, outspoken
man, described how he joined the Marine Corps at the end of March
1951, less than three months after he turned 18. “I quit high school
in ’51, my senior year, and joined the Marine Corps,’ Steege said
with a laugh.’ I was going to be a half a credit short and I wouldn’t
graduate, so I thought, to heck with it.’” At the time he signed
up, the Korean War was in full swing. Steege said he and many others
wanted to join the conflict. “I volunteered to go to Korea eight
or 10 times, but they would never take me. But, finally, I think
I had 11 months to go, they shipped me off,” he said.
To be Continued.
Stu’s Notes: Tomorrow I will be on our ‘Men Who Built Oroville
Dam’ Float, furnished by the DWR. Come on down and see a really
great parade. Lynn and I and Bill Fox will, as always, will have
a booth with lots of memorabilia on the building of the Oroville
Dam. We will also have information on our Veterans Memorial Park.
Bill will be selling hats and shirts. Come down and see us in the
big parking lot across from the Eagles. Our booth should be on Montgomery
as usual, thank you, Mike Isch. The Veterans Memorial Hall on Montgomery
Street, built by the people of Butte County in 1936, is open, never
has been closed and will always be there for the Veterans and soon
they will finally have a long over due parking lot. Oroville Dam
was dedicated on May 4, 1968 and is now 40 years old.