VETERANS DAY
143rd YEAR, No. 96
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 11, 2015
ONE DOLLAR
World War II veteran
shares his story
P
By KATHERYN HOUGHTON
EO Media Group
AC,F,C C28NT< Wash ² Robert %eck never heard the e[plosion
as he watched the À ames roll oII the ship and reÀ ect on the ocean ¶
A -apanese attacker pilot À ew overhead As Avenger radioman %eck
belonged on a plane %ut he was stuck on a carrier ship trying to stay
out oI the crew’s way as they countered the attack ¶ ³War was on it wasn’t
something we talked about´ %eck said ³,t was Must something we did´
War’s logic
Navy flier Bob Beck survived the War
in the Pacific.
‘War was on, it
wasn’t something
we talked about. It
was just something
we did.’
Robert Beck
93-year-old WWII veteran
%eck was a year into business school in 2lympia
when the 8nited 6tates declared war on Germany
%eing a soldier wasn’t a Mob title it was a cer-
tainty 2ut oI %eck’s class oI men he said
either enlisted or were draIted
When %eck turned his Iather said it was time
to enlist +is Iather had been on a ship in France
when World War , ended
³+e said , was going no matter what and , didn’t
want to end up like those poor guys in the trench-
es´ %eck said ³We thought , should sign my name
to the Navy like he did´
%eck boarded a train Ior Farragut ,daho Ior ba-
sic training as a part oI the th company Every
Iew months he moved to a diIIerent base
+is training stopped at 3earl +arbor as crews
assembled Ior the Iront lines
³There was a lot oI waiting around Must know-
ing we were preparing Ior an invasion´ he said
³We watched as ships were built and knew where
we were going´
The men Iocused on playing the card game
³+earts´ instead oI trying to predict what they
would encounter overseas
,n -uly %eck was assigned to the carrier
866. 0anila %ay and the convoy headed to in-
vade -apanese Iorces perched in the 3hilippines
Philippines Campaign
%eck watched soldiers unload on the shores
Irom the sky The battle Ior the 3hilippines began
in 2ctober
³, was right above Gen 0acArthur as he walked
into the battle´ %eck said ³, was oI course too
high up to tell who was who´ The movement
looked like a wave
Flashes oI light sparked Irom ships as gunners
¿ red toward enemy bases %eck peered out a circu-
lar window about the size oI his head scanned the
dark Iorests Ior enemy locations
3lanes dropped À iers over the land 6ome were
in -apanese and declared the 86 and Filipinos had
Moined Iorces Another had drawings oI troops run-
ning onto shores and read ³The <anks have landed
on your ,sland´
See VETERAN, Page 7A
Royal
honor
College names
art gallery aIter
Royal Nebeker
By EDWARD STRATTON
The Daily Astorian
When Clatsop Community Col-
lege¶s art Iaculty opens an e[hibit on
campus Thursday honoring the late
Royal Nebeker
they will do so
in the Royal Ne-
beker Art Gal-
lery
The
col-
lege’s
board
voted
unani-
mously Tues-
day to name the
campus gallery
Royal
inside the art
Nebeker
center aIter Ne-
beker a teacher
Ior more than years in the art pro-
gram and among the most celebrated
artists Irom Astoria
³We Ieel like it’s important to us
it’s important to so many people in the
community to have Royal’s name on
the gallery´ said .ristin 6hauck head
oI the art program to the board Tuesday
beIore the vote
6hauck spoke on behalI oI the au-
dience gathered in support Tuesday
including art Iaculty local artists and
See ROYAL, Page 11A
Former
¿ re chieI
Must µdidn’t
do the Mob’
Community
praises Iormer
Cannon %each
ChieI 0ike %alzer
By DANI PALMER
EO Media Group
CANN2N %EAC+ ² Tempers
À ared 0onday as community mem-
bers criticized the Cannon %each
Rural Fire 3rotection 'istrict %oard
oI 'irectors’ handling oI Iormer
Fire ChieI 0ike %alzer’s termina-
tion The manner oI releasing the
inIormation was ³in poor taste´ and
6haron Clyde the board president
should never have locked the Iormer
chieI out oI his own oI¿ ce they said
%oard members countered that
residents were misinIormed and
more inIormation regarding the
mid-2ctober dismissal was released
Bob Beck/Courtesy Photo
VC-80 Squadron veteran Bob Beck is in front row, third from the far right. Beck was attached to the aircraft carrier U.S.S. Manila Bay.
See FIRE CHIEF, Page 11A
Researchers urge cooperation during LNG sitings
Trust in public
process crucial
to community
mobilization
By ERICK BENGEL
The Daily Astorian
Joshua Bessex/The Daily Astorian
Trang Tran, of Oregon State University’s School of Public Policy, talks about
the findings of their study during a presentation at the Astoria Public Library.
While reviewing and siting lique-
¿ ed natural gas proMects local oI¿ cials
and the Federal Energy Regulatory
Commission should work to cooperate
better with communities where energy
companies wish to break ground ac-
cording to the recommendations oI two
graduate students Irom 2regon 6tate
8niversity¶s 6chool oI 3ublic 3olicy
'ecision -makers they said should
communicate earlier and more regular-
ly with citizens and work to educate
them on the rules oI public participa-
tion in the /1* siting process
³,t is important Ior the community
members to ensure that they have a say
in what type oI development is invited
into their community and to perceive
that the siting process is Iair´ said Trang
Tran who presented ¿ ndings with Iel-
low researcher %rittany *austad at the
$storia 3ublic /ibrary Tuesday evening
With Iunding Irom the 2regon 6ea
*rant Tran and *austad studied the
2regon /1* proMect proposed Ior War-
renton and -ordan Cove /1* proMect
proposed Ior Coos %ay both oI which
are wading through the FERC approval
process
See LNG, Page 11A