Oroville Register June 1945
In The Fight
Many service men have not been heard from. The American Legion committee
that is sponsoring the honor roll of all men and women in the armed
forces said today that it is ready to have the names printed but
realizes many have not yet been turned in. Relatives of those in
the services should send the names and other data at once to Albert
D’Amico. He wants the full name, address, rating and branch of service.
Unless relatives and friends act, the names of their men and women
will not appear, as those in the services are not prepared to act
for themselves.
BLACKIE COLONY IN ENGLAND ON V-E DAY
Pvt. Robert (Blackie) Colony was in England on V-E Day at the 1st
Base Air Depot at Warrington. An army release said he was one of
the crack Air Service Command team that pitched in to back up the
air assaults that helped knock Germany out of the war, repairing
and servicing combat planes. Brigadier General Berman Commended
the group for the amount of work they had turned out and said, “Every
soldier, whatever his job, contributed materially to the magnificent,
final result.” Colony has been overseas since October 6, 1944. He
is the son of Mr. and Mrs. John Colony of Palermo Road and prior
to joining the army in January 1944 was employed on a ranch. During
his basic training he made high scores shooting infantry weapons
and received a medal for rifle shooting.
CAPT. LEAVITT GETS CREDIT FOR CONSTRUCTION IN CHINA
Ghungking, China--Capt. H. J. Leavitt of Oroville is in charge of
construction of the China Theatre Area here. Special credit was
given him at the opening of the Tibbets Memorial Center, a new combination
theatre, dance floor, recreation hall, and chapel. Three high ranking
U. S. generals and the United States ambassador to china took part
in the dedication ceremonies. Leavitt’s wife and the couple’s two
daughters reside on Nevada Avenue.
CHAS. WALSH IN GROUP COMMENDED FOR OUTSTANDING WORK
Pfc. Charles E. Walsh, was one of the Oroville boys who on V-E Day
were on the job helping to ready combat planes and equipment for
immediate need wherever they might be needed. This is according
to an army release from 1st Base Air Depot in Warrington,
England. His unit was commended by Brigadier General Berman of the
Air Service Command who said, “These soldiers, since their work
began have dispatched 415,000 tons of supplies, assembled and modified
12,000 combat planes and repaired and overhauled more than 30,000
aircraft engines.” Walsh has been overseas since October 1943. He
joined the army in January 1943, prior to which he was employed
by Feather Falls Lumber Company at Mooretown.
Stu’s Notes: Albert D’Amico put together this list with his American
Legion committee. Does anyone know where it is? Could it be buried
somewhere at the bottom of a pile somewhere in our Veteran’s Hall?
There was one little news clip I read that the list was put on a
big board, I do know it was on display at the Veterans Hall on Montgomery
and moved to the Court House down town. How could anyone in their
right mind throw such a treasure away? And there should be a paper
list. I first wrote of Blackie Colony in 2002, he was featured in
my 4th story, now I think I’m on 314, (this article.
It is good to read he survived the war, now if I could find anyone
who remembers him. Could Capt Leavitt be related to the Oroville
Leavitts. I want more of his story. I received a call from Laura
Lee Casagrande Welzel. She was married to Gene Casagrande. Our friend
and I will say loyal reader, Betty Taresh sent her the recent article
about Don and his brothers. She said among other things Gene drove
a Jeep on Air Base’s to take Air crews to their planes and back
after a mission,
Thank you Bill Fox. He does so much for this memorial. First
we were going to the Biggs 4th of July ceremony and parade,
then we weren’t, then Bill got us a free booth (thank you Biggs)
so we went. We felt bad that they went all out for us. Anyway what
a find. In 7 years of searching we had a list of about 24 who lost
their lives from Biggs-Gridley. I knew there would be more but who,
when, where. Well a very nice lady came by our booth, Pat Shuman
She was so glad when I told her what we were doing and that we needed
help on Biggs and Gridley. She is a docent at the Gridley library.
She said there was a book called Letters and News of Boy’s and Girl’s
in the Service. World War II news paper clippings. These clippings
came from “The News” a Biggs paper of long ago. It had stories of
Biggs, Gridley and some Oroville service men and women and a list
of those who lost their lives from Biggs and Gridley in WWII. We
still need more help, no Butte county town’s list is complete Where
was Mooretown?