May 23 2014

Here is a preview of the Program for the Memorial Day Service at the Memorial Park Cemetery, Lincoln Blvd., Oroville, CA Monday May 26, 2014
11:00AM. Master of Ceremonies Jim Moll, Presentation of Colors
Don Button – Bagpiper
V.F.W. Veterans Honor Guard, Knights of Columbus Fr. O’Calahan Assemble, Butte Commandery #5, Masonic Lodge 103. Pledge and Salute to the Flag – Boy Scout Troop 29
Star Spangled Banner – Brittany Hubbard
Invocation Pastor David Rieck, First United Methodist Church
Address- Kory Honea- Butte Co. Sheriff
America- Oroville Memorial Day Chorus
Logan’s Orders- Stan Rinehart
Battle Hymn of the Republic- Oroville Memorial Day Chorus
Benediction- Michael Bryan,Oroville Christian Church
Salute to the Departed- Raising of the Flag, V.F.W. Honor Guard, Boy Scout Troop #29, Taps by Ron Wolcott
Sound System compliments of Jeremy Buis.

Oroville Mercury Register
May 29, 1941
Memorial Parade At 10 Tomorrow
The Memorial Day parade will start from Memorial Hall Friday at 10am. Herbert Taylor, Butte county sheriff, will be officer of the day. The parade lineup arranged by the Veterans Council, will be led by the high school band. Immediately following will be the massed colors and color guard. Then will come the firing squad of high school cadets: the Feather Falls CCC: the American Legion, Veterans of Foreign Wars, the United Spanish War Veterans, their auxiliaries and the Woman’s Relief Corps. The Elks Drum and Bugle Corps lodges and civic organizations will be followed by marching school children. From the hall, the parade will advance to the upper Feather River bridge where the RCW, the women’s auxiliaries and the firing squad will have charge of the ceremony. From the bridge, the parade will march to Municipal Auditorium. The program there will open with the Star Spangled Banner played by the high school band. The Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag will be led by V.V. Ricketts, commander of the Oroville VFW post. J.C. Nisbet will be master of ceremonies, announcing the program. The address of welcome will be given by John Cook, commander of the USWV. The Glee Club of the American Legion Auxiliary will sing Recessional. The Invocation will be given by the Rev. Mr. Warren Hull, pastor of the Assembly of God church James Walker will deliver the Gettysburg Address. The poem, Flanders Field, will be read by Fred Irwin. George Critchett will be speaker of the day. His Address will be followed by the Glee Club singing The Long, Long Trail. The Benediction will be pronounced by Mr. Hull immediately following assembly singing of America. At the close of the ceremony at the auditorium, the women’s patriotic orders will go to the cemeteries where they will conduct Memorial Day. rites. (Stu- We had a Sheriff in the program in 1941 and our new Sheriff in 2014.)

Oroville Mercury Register
June 1, 1942
City Honors War Dead On Memorial Day
Better World Can Come Out Of This War, says Critchett
“We have entered World War II in self defense but the fruits of victory will be a better world,” George E. Critchett, past commander of the United Spanish American War Veterans Saturday told a large crowd of Oroville people gathered in Municipal auditorium to honor the nation’s soldier and sailor dead. The Memorial Day ceremonies were the most comprehensive held in Oroville in many years. “in the first World War we won the battle but lost in peace. We were hated by the other nations. If America can carry the spirit of war unity into peace it will produce a new era in national life,” he said, “We shall not let heroism die by forgetting the hero,” Crichett said. “Bestowing a medal does not pay all the debt. Heroism has earned the reward of undying memory by a grateful people. “Wars are no longer won on the battlefields alone,” He pointed our. “The men of Bataan bear evidence of that. The loss of Malay and Singapore does not mean that there are better soldiers under the yellow skin. It does mean that it takes food, and guns as well. In closing he pleaded for the fraternity of American interests – “one for all and all for one.” A parade consisting of citizens from every walk of life in Oroville, patriotic and civic organizations, Boy and Girl Scouts, school students, lodges and many unaffiliated persons made its way to the Feather River bridge where flowers were strewn upon the water in honor of the war dead. The Rev. Mr. D.D. Champlain of the Congregational church delivered the benediction and the salute to the dead and “Taps” were preformed by the high school cadets.

Stu’s Notes:
The Nelson Avenue Band from Thermalito, under the Direction of Bob Christiansen will play one of my favorite tunes on the Bridge, but you have to come out because I’m not telling what it is. If you read all of the above and are physically able, how could you not come to one of the Memorial Day services?