August 30, 2013

Oroville Mercury Register
May 12, 1951
News From Oroville Men In The Service
Two Oroville High School Graduates who enlisted in the Navy and went through boot camp together are now at Pearl Harbor awaiting assignment. They are Clemoth Monday, son of Mr. and Mrs. W. F. Monday, of Rout 2, Oroville and Jack Hendershot, son of Mr. and Mrs. George Hendershot of Route 3, Thermalito. Graduates of the 1949 High School Class, the two boys enlisted in the Navy after starting their second year at Yuba J. C. Both hope to get into yeoman school at Pearl Harbor. After finishing boot camp at San Diego last month, the two spent 14 days at their respective homes. They were then stationed at Treasure Island for three weeks awaiting orders and came home each weekend.

Pvt. Melford Anglen, 19, son of Mr. and Mrs. P.A. Anglen, Bird Street Oroville, arrived in Honolulu last month to begin basic infantry training. The youth was graduated from Oroville High in 1949 and completed a year and a half at Yuba J. C. before going into the service in February. He says that all his free time is spent swimming and surfboarding at the wonderful beaches.
(Stu- If he gets to Korea the fun will end)

Oroville Mercury Register
May 15, 1951
Looking Back 10 years ago (1941)
Named as speakers for the high school graduation here in June were Tip Rowe, Mary Felipe, Allan McLain, Elmer Beever and Betty Ganow

Rudolph Hess, Nazi Germany’s No. 3 man- behind Hitler and Goering- parachuted into Scotland from a German plane and was taken prisoner.

Stu’s Notes:
Driving around Thermalito, I stopped by Bill Fox’s house, he gave me some re -bar to make Flag holes out at the Cemetery. We will need them to put a hole in the ground when we put out the small flags, well I can’t say we, because I only help to take them down. Bob Morehouse wants to use the re-bar for this. Come out Veterans day and Memorial day at about 6AM and you can help. The Flags will not go up under threat of rain. Try to dry hundreds of big cotton flags and thousands of small ones.
Then I drove out to 20th Street and Russell Proctor Way, named for a young man killed in the Gulf War, War on Terror, etc. And wow they are finally building homes on his street. Since the collapse of the housing market of 2008, things are finally starting to come back. The sign said Better Homes Realty, Cindy Peebles. So I called her and sure enough more houses will come, she said. I informed her about how the street was named, which was new to her. That the Gold Star on the sign represented that he “Gave All” for our Country. She was quite impressed. I said I hope as more streets are developed out there some can be named for other Heroes of Oroville, One, Cpl. Melvin Rowe KIA, March 24, 1945 who once had a street in Rancho Golden in his name when it was abandoned before it was finished. His story is on our website. I will not give up until I find him a street. His bomber went down just a few weeks before the end of the war in Europe, “Over there”. Cindy told me the name of the project out there is called Horizons, kind of a fitting name as if you look at the Horizons and turn 360 degrees an American service man or woman has given their life out there somewhere, every degree on the Horizon that you look. Some were near and some were far away. In all of our war’s I would guess it is close to one million. Look to the Horizon’s and think about the cost of your freedom, paid for by American blood. Tim Rowe and Allan McLain both went to WWII, the others I don’t know. A lot of those from the class of ’41, Oroville High School did go. I don’t know much about Tip Rowe but I’ve written a lot about Al McLain. He has helped me on my stories through the years.

The POW/MIA Honoring Ceremony that we do on the steps of the Memorial Hall on Montgomery Street will be Friday September 20, at 7:00PM, this year as always the third Friday of September. I hope to see a big crowd this year to show the world Oroville has not Forgotten it’s Heroes. Our Motor Cycle Poker Run At Feather Falls Casino is coming up September 21.. Call James Townsend at 589-5748 for more information.