Oroville Grafe Gets Army Newswriting Job
Formerly on M-R
“Well-congratulate me – I just got the best deal in the Army- I
just got back from my interviews and guess what? I am now assigned
to the 628 Special Service Platoon as a newspaperman and I am stationed
at Ft. Richardson, Alaska, which is the best camp in the place!
This was in a recent letter from Pvt. Harry Grafe to his parents,
Mr. and Mrs. W.J. Grafe of Oroville. Pvt. Grafe, went on to say,
“It was my job on the Mercury that did it. They said that they can
make a medic out of anybody, but experienced newspapermen are hard
to find. Is that some sweet deal. Looks like I am getting a swell
break out of the Army after all. This is a thousand times better
than anything I ever expected and was I tickled to get it! Pvt.
Grafe is now at Fort Lawson, Wash,. And said he expects to sail
for Alaska next week. He was the high school correspondent for the
Mercury and also wrote for the paper while he attended Yuba College
before he entered the servicer.
(Stu- His orders were soon changed.)
Oroville Mercury Register November 23
1946 Service Corner
Cpl. Wood Goes To Guam
Cpl. Walter Woods Jr. has recently been transferred to Guam from
Hawaii, according to word received here by his parents, Mr. and
Mrs. Walter Woods, Merrimack Star Route.
Lt. Bills Home For Visit
First Lt. Robert J. Burns arrived here last Sunday to visit at the
home of his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Alvin Bills, Montgomery Street.
This is the first time he has been home in 4 1/2 years. He plans
to be here until Dec.2, when he will go to either to the Pacific
area or to Washington, D.C. for assignment. Lt. Burns has been in
Cairo with the Foreign Liquidation Commission. (Stu- it was a long
War and many just didn’t get home.)
Inman Home From China
Gerald Inman, 18, S2/c, son of Mr. and Mrs. A. L. Inman of Oroville,
is now in San Pedro, where he docked recently after having spent
some time in the Pacific. Inman has been on the cruiser Bremerton,
which he boarded in Shanghais. Since then he has been in Hong Kong
and Tsingtao in China, Yokosuka, Tokyo and Sasebo, Japan, and Manila,
Guam, and Saipan and other Pacific islands. He entered the service
Dec, 1945, and received his best training in San Diego. He has been
studying Radio. Inman expects to be able to come home on leave soon.
Oroville Mercury Register
November 23, 1946
Lincoln’s Words Cause Dispute In Chinese
Yuan Nanking, China – (UP)- Inclusion in China’ proposed constitution
of Abraham Lincoln’s words “government of the people, by the people,
for the people” precipitated a storm of discussion today before
adoption by the legislative Yuan. The words would appear in article
one of chapter one of the constitution draft which says “the Republic
of China, based on the three people’s principles, is a democratic
state with government of the people, by the people, for the people.”
Many Legislative Yuan members expressed the view that the quotation
from Lincoln was a strange foreign anachronism in the Chinese constitution
and wanted to have the words eliminated, making the article read
“the Republic of China, based on the People’s principles, is a democratic
government.”
(Stu- Soon China went Communist and government by the people
was not to be.)
Oroville Mercury Register
November 23, 1946
Famous Kilroy Is Found; Must Move Street Car
Boston- (UP)- A former Boston City councilor and father of 9 children
today faced the problem of moving his newly-acquired trolley car
from Everett to Halifax, Mass, to relieve his housing shortage.
James J. Kilroy won the car from the Boston Elevated Railway Co.
as a contest prize for giving them the best explanation of the origin
of the famous war-time phrase, “Kilroy was here.” When Kilroy gets
the street car to his home, he plans to turn it into a bunkroom
for his children who range in age from 15 years to six months. Kilroy
should know about “Kilroy was Here.” He claims he started the phrase
when he wrote it on the carrier Lexington in the Bethlehem Street
Co’s Quincy shipyard as an inspector. He is thinking of painting
on his new housing addition, “Kilroy lives here.”
Stu’s Notes:
My son Jeff who knows a lot, never heard of Kilroy. It’s an old
people’s thing. It traveled all over the world. The above story
came to the Oroville Mercury from The New York Times. See more about
Kilroy on the web. Try the Straight Dope- What’s the origin of “Kilroy
was here.” Sadly PVT. Harry Grafe ended up on Shemya, the tip of
the Aleutian Islands. He wrote in a December letter, “The weather
is rain and fog, snow in the winter, no civilians, no women.” He
did praise Special service as the only good thing on the Island
that keeps the men from “Going Nuts”.