Oroville Mercury
June 10, 1952
News From Oroville Men In The Service
Marine Technical Sgt. Paul F. Shaner, 36, of Oroville,
has been awarded the Commendation Medal with the 1st
Marine Aircraft Wing in Korea. The sergeant, who has served with
the Wing’s public information section for nearly a year, was awarded
the medal by Maj. Gen. Christian F. Schilt, commanding general,
“for excellent service in the line of his profession.” The sergeant
was credited with risking his life on 15 occasions by flying in
unarmed aircraft over enemy held territory in order to obtain needed
photographs. At other times, he knowingly placed himself in great
personal danger so that he might photograph accidents to armed and
fueled aircraft on the airfield. Authorized to wear the Combat “B”
with the medal Sergeant Shaner is due for rotation to the States.
A gunner on a B-25 bomber during World War II he was shot down in
the Philippines. In addition to the Commendation Medal he holds
the Air Medal and Gold Star in lieu of a second award. Shaner’s
mother, Mrs. Betty L. Mills, lives at Route 3, Oroville. His wife,
Ruby, and sons, Gregory, 6, and Gary, 2, live at Creston, Iowa.
Pvt. Robert S. Wright son of Mr. and Mrs. H. C. Whitford, La Media
Drive, Oroville, is helping his unit, the 77th Engineer
Combat Company, to build a road in Korea under unusual conditions.
The company is building an important road around one of Korea’s
rocky hills in total darkness-working at night without lights. The
77th is part of the 25th Infantry Division.
Engineer units of the 25th are responsible for building
and maintaining roads and bridges over which supplies travel to
the front lines. Private Wright, a reconnaissance man, entered the
Army in March 1949 and arrived in Korea May 1, 1952.
A.K. Steedman, son of Mr. and Mrs. Jake Doering, of Rt. 3, Oroville,
is home on a 14-day leave after completing his boot training at
San Diego. When his leave is up he will report to Treasure Island,
San Francisco, where he will be assigned to the U. S. S. Caliente.
Steedman joined the Navy in March of this year. He attended Oroville
Union High School.Lt. Lawson T. Winslow Jr. USN is serving aboard
the destroyer USS John A. Bole. He is the son of Mr. and Mrs. Lawson
T. Winslow of Brown Avenue, Oroville. Lt. Winslow enlisted in the
Navy March 6, 1943. He reported aboard the Bole March 26, 1951.
The Bole, which arrived in the Far East in January, is on her second
tour of duty in the Korean area since the outbreak of hostilities.
The Bole has hurled 3000 rounds of high explosives at Communist
military installations in North Korea. Col Walter E. Ahearn whose
wife, Jeanne, lives on Route 3, Paradise, is the new finance officer
of the XVI Corps at Sandai Japan.
Stu's Notes: What a relief, we actually broke ground at the Veteran’s
Memorial after nine and a half years of meetings, fund raisers,
ups and downs. For years it felt like how can we ever do this sometimes
it just seemed impossible but here I must quote the words of Oroville
Mercury staff writer Mary Westen who did the excellent story of
our groundbreaking “They pressed on” 5 times oh and on page 7 one
more “pressing on” and yes we did press on at times the end of the
tunnel looked so close then it faded away. Do you know how dark
it is in a tunnel when both ends are out of site? Total darkness,
I have been there in some of those tunnels I worked in on the Oroville
Dam Project when the lights went out you cannot see any light. Sometimes
that’s how I felt on this Veterans memorial but we pressed on. Sadly
we lost eight of our founding members over the years. Ed Ewalt WWII
& Korea, John Herina WWII, Ted Grainger WWII Phil Laws WWII, Howard
Gregg Korea, Nick Krpan WWII and recently Frank Oddo WWII & Korea.
My uncle Paul one of my Hero’s when I was young would often visit
us when on leave from the wars when we lived in Pennsylvania and
later in Oroville, which was like his home away from home. He told
me many stories the war stories I believe were true other’s like
how he walked through the snow 10 miles to school in Omaha as a
young boy, yeah right one year Lynn an I looked up the old house
which was one and a half miles from the school. All in all he and
his brother Uncle Stanley WWII were the Uncle’s everybody would
want.
I knew Andy as Kieth when I was growing up he was the big brother
of my friend Jim Doering later in life we both wrestled steers down
at our rodeo, in the Business Man’s calf tying contest as announced
by Dan Ledford. I did pretty good, Andy and his steer went head
over heels once I think he had it by its tail, I think it was a
tie.