Oroville Mercury Register
October 10,1949
Oroville GI Selected as ‘Outstanding’
Fort Bragg, N.C. – Corporal James M. Forbes of Oroville was
selected as an ‘Outstanding Soldier’ of the famed 82nd
Airborne Division for the month of September and is now in Washington,
D. C. on a five day tour of the Nation’s Capital which is being
sponsored by the Fayetteville, N. C. Chamber of Commerce and the
U. S. Army, Twenty-five “outstanding Soldiers” make this tour each
month. The trip was given to Cpl. Forbes for being selected as “The
Outstanding Soldier” of the 82nd Military Police Company.
On the tour Cpl. Forbes will meet many notables of the United States
Government and one of the highest honors he will have in Washington
is to meet and talk with the Secretary of the Army. Some of the
places to be visited by Cpl. Forbes are; the Capitol Building, the
Thomas Jefferson Memorial, the Pentagon Building, the FBI Crime
Laboratory, the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, and the Smithsonian
Institute. Cpl. Forbes is a graduate of Oroville Union High School.
He enlisted in the Army in April 1948 after serving with the United
States Navy in the Pacific. He is a qualified parachutist and has
made over twenty-six parachute jumps and one glider ride. He is
the son of Mrs. C. E. George of Thermalito.
OMR
October 1949
Oroville men Join Army Air Forces
Five Oroville area men have enlisted in the Army Air Force during
September, it was announced today by M/Sgt. Fred E. Salter, Chico,
recruiting sergeant. The five: David L. Nichols, Route 5, Box 2044,
Oroville; Ray Miller, P. O. Box 364 Palermo; John E. Crook Palermo,
Lloyd C. Knight, General Delivery, Palermo and Jimmy M. Robertson,
General Delivery, Palermo. Twelve other men from the areas including
north Butte and Tehama County, enlisted during September, Salter
stated.
OMR
December 9, 1950
Air Commander Dies In Red Bluff Crash
McChord Air Force Base, Wash. – (UP) - One Air Force pilot was
killed but another parachuted to safety when their twin engined
Mustang fighter crashed near Red Bluff last night, Air Force authorities
here reported today. Col. George W. Prentice, commander of the 325th
fighter all-weather squadron based here, was found dead 200 yards
from the wrecked plane on a hillside. Capt. William C. Athas, 22,
bailed out of the ship on orders from Prentice when the craft developed
engine trouble in a thick fog.
OMR
November 9, 1950
Corporal Joseph C. Jimenez Jr., son of Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Jimenez
of Fort Wayne Street, married the former Miss Toni Ramerez. They
were married recently in Kansas, where Jimenez is stationed with
the Army Medical Corps at Fort Riley. Jimenez, who attended Oroville
schools, entered the service in 1946. For the wedding ceremony,
the new Mrs. Jimenez chose a black suit with gray accessories, and
wore a pink carnation corsage.
OMR
November 9, 1950
Pasadena Flier Bags First Jet
Seoul - (UP) - Lt. Russell J. Brown, of Pasadena, is the first
pilot in history who shot down an enemy plane in an air battle between
jet planes. Brown said today he jumped a Chinese plane over the
Sinuiju target area and started firing as the enemy jet zoomed toward
the Manchurian border. “I could hear the squadron commander shouting
over his radio at me. He kept shouting, ‘Don’t cross the river,
don’t cross that river (Yalu).’” But as Brown’s Commander Maj. E.
G. Stephens, San Angelo Tex., said later, “He didn’t have to.” Stephens
was credited with damaging an MIG-15 earlier in the mission. He
shot down a Betty bomber and two Zeroes in P-39 combat in the South
Pacific during World War II.
Stu’s Notes: The October 1949 story in the Mercury was a little
bit wrong as our Army Air Force became the Air Force in 1947. The
P51 Mustang was a single engine fighter. I never heard of a twin
engine Mustang but the Brave Col. George E. Prentice might have
stuck with his plane to get it away from Red Bluff people and in
so doing gave up his life, as did our U-2 pilot 13 years ago here
in Oroville. I hope the Red Bluff people remember him. If you know
some of those folks hand them this story. The Pasadena Flier, as
did most our pilots in Korea, had the Yalu River no fly there zone,
the enemy had no such rule. Not from Oroville, but a hero nonetheless.