January 1, 2016

Oroville Mercury Register
June 1, 1942
100 Dine at “O” Banquet
One hundred members and guests attended the Block O Banquet at Oroville High School following the initiation of fifty four new members, Wednesday night. Bill Dolan was the guest speaker of the evening and gave a brief history of the athletic activities of the high school. Principal J. C. Nisbet was master of ceremonies and short talks were given by the coaches and Roger Van Duzer, president. During the daylong initiation which saw all initiates come to school dressed in girl’s dresses and wearing make-up was completed by the formal initiation in the gymnasium in the early evening. The entire group enjoyed a banquet with the dinner being prepared by Mrs. Blance Rice and the cooking class.
(Stu- Bill Dresser was one of the new inductees.)

Oroville Mercury 1942-1944
1943 Bill Dresser Ends Boot Camp Training
Bill Dresser, son of Mrs. Violet Dresser, Oak Street, has returned to Farragut, Ida., after a furlough in Oroville following completion of his eight week camp training in the Navy. He said he would apply for instruction as a radio technician. Dresser entered the navy June 13 after attending Yuba County Junior College, where he was president of the freshman class.

Edger Goff With Armored Command
Pfc. Edgar A. Goff was among a new class of enlisted men who recently began studying as a technician in the communication school of the armored command at Fort Knox, Ky. He will be trained in radio operation from rumbling rolling tanks and half-tracks. The soldier is the son of Mrs. Blanche Goff, Bird St., Oroville.
(Stu-“Slow the tank down. I can’t hear.”)

Smith Trains As Air Technician
Pfc. Richard Lyman Smith, son of Mr. and Mrs. Elmer Smith, First Street, Oroville, has been undergoing technical training with the Army Air Forces at Lowry Field, Colo. since June 29, this year. Smith attended both Bidwell district school and the Oroville High school where he played football and baseball. He was employed as a timber faller at Strawberry Valley prior to his induction.

Don Obenshain Will Enter Trade School
Don Obenshain has finished his basic training at Fort Warren, Wyo., and will enter an eight weeks’ trade school. He is in the quartermaster corps of the army. He is the eldest of five sons of Mrs. Meda Obenshain, Leah Court.

Robert Bryant Makes Fifth Sailing Trip
There’s excitement and satisfaction in being a member of the Merchant Marines according to Bob Bryant, former Mercury carrier, who is now on his fifth trip on the high seas. Bryant entered the merchant sailing service when just past 17 years of age. His first trip was in March 1942. He has advanced each trip, he writes his mother, Mrs. Jennie Bryant, Pine Street. Everything that happens, he said in “just another day’s work.”

Lewis Peterson Trains As Engineer Manhattan
Kan. - Cadet Lewis J. Peterson of Oroville, Calif., is a member of the engineer corps stationed at Kansas State College in Manhattan as part of the Army Specialized Training Program unit. He is the son of Mr. and Mrs. F. W. Clemo of Linden, Oroville. Before entering the armed services he attended pre-med school at Willamette University for one year. He was graduated from Oroville Union high in 1940.
(Stu - In WWII the Merchant Marines gained Military status.)

Corporal Ingwerson Assigned To Sawtelle Corp.
Roy Ingwerson, son of Mr. and Mrs. O. E. Ingwerson of C Street, has returned to duty at an army hospital in Sawtelle after a three- months course at Fitzsimmons general hospital in Denver as a dental technician. He was a carpenter at Camp Beale at the time he entered the service, Oct. 7, 1942. He is a graduate of Oroville high school, and formerly was a Mercury carrier.

Stu’s Notes:
This is all we have on the above Heroes. We do know Bill Dresser lived in Oroville for a long time and went far in the Education System. And that he moved away a few years ago. I don’t even know if he is still living. Almost all the WWII Men are in their 90’s now. Richard Lyman Smith, we know only what is above. Help me find more. They “Must Not be Forgotten”. Someone must know more. The “100 Dine at “O” Banquet is on our website. Many of the new inductees went to War. On the VFW Calendar it says that “Dec. 31, 1946 is the official end of WWII.”