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THE DAILY ASTORIAN • FRIDAY, JUNE 16, 2017
Veteran: Visiting memorial was ‘emotional’ Band: New songs
contain more Pacific
Northwest imagery
Continued from Page 1A
The 1954 citation from his
commanding officer, Capt.
Frederick J. Brush, describes
how a “dangerous fire broke
out, engulfing the wreckage
of six planes in flames and
smoke.
“As a member of the
fire-fighting party, you imme-
diately manned the foam
and water hoses and despite
the danger of exploding fuel
tanks proceeded to fight the
fire with extreme vigor and
without regard for your own
personal safety.”
There was no chance to
attempt a rescue of the pilots
— even if they had survived
the fiery crash.
“Did I kill three people?”
asked Cochran. “I never found
out who lived and who died.”
The D.C. trip brought tears
when he saw tributes to ser-
vicemen missing in action.
“It was emotional,” he
recalled. “At the Korean War
Memorial, it got to me. MIA.
… Did I cause somebody to
be in that section?”
His
son,
Raymond
Cochran, a retired car racing
pit crew chief who lives in
Battle Ground, accompanied
his father on the trip.
The 60-year-old said the
trip was “life changing” for
both, but especially his father.
“I think he got a sense of heal-
ing from it,” he said.
“When I was 8 or 9 years
old, I found the citation in a
drawer and said, ‘Dad, will
you tell me about it?’ He said,
‘That and a dime will get you
a cup of coffee.’ Mom later
said that you don’t talk about
it.
“He kept this inside him
and never talked about it.”
Raymond Cochran said
hearing his father’s story, and
those of other veterans, reaf-
firmed his appreciation for
their service. “These guys
were warriors and heroes.
They were asked to do the
impossible with their friends
dying around them. I felt as if
I were walking with giants.”
Tradition of service
Richard Cochran was
inspired to serve his coun-
try by the example of his
twin uncles, Roy and Coy
Bradstreet, who were both
wounded in World War II.
Roy Bradstreet published a
memoir, “A Cotton Pickin’
Soldier.”
Already 6 feet tall at
age 14, and unhappy with
school and family life in his
Texas Panhandle hometown,
Cochran forged a document
to apply for the U.S. Marine
Corps. He was inches away
— until his mother yelled at
the recruiting sergeant to stop
him boarding the bus. His
father signed for him to join
the Navy at 17.
After schooling at bases in
Florida, Tennessee and Cal-
ifornia, he shipped out to the
Far East with stops in Hawaii
and Japan before heading to
the war zone. Other than the
crash, his most vivid mem-
ories were observing U.S.
naval firepower. “We would
watch the battle-wagons
and destroyers firing their
Patrick Webb/For EO Media Group
A baseball cap souvenir
from the Honor Flight car-
ries the slogan “Forgotten
Victory.” Because of the
unusual nature of the dec-
laration of hostilities by
President Harry Truman,
historians have labeled it
“The Forgotten War.”
Puget Sound Honor Flight
Richard Cochran pauses for an emotional moment at the Ko-
rean War Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C., last month.
Patrick Webb/For EO Media Group
Richard and Beverly Cochran of Ocean Park, Washington,
are coming up on their 62nd wedding anniversary. They
met while she was going to school in California and he
was leaving the U.S. Navy.
16-inch guns. It was like they
were throwing Volkswagens
through the air. They were 2
miles away.”
On his return to San Diego,
he met a woman from Pasco
who had moved to California.
He and wife Beverly are com-
ing up on 62 years of mar-
riage this summer. They have
two sons, Raymond in Bat-
tle Ground, Robert in Palm
Springs, California, and four
grandchildren.
His technical skills earned
him postwar jobs, first with
an aircraft company and then
a power utility in California.
Vacations on Orcas Island
lured the Cochrans back
to Beverly’s home state of
Washington and he obtained
a job with the Clark County
Public Utility District after a
stint in Tillamook. They lived
in Battle Ground for 35 years
and in retirement split their
time between Ocean Park and
Brenda, Ariz.
Honor Flights
The May trip to Washing-
ton, D.C., was entirely paid
for by the Puget Sound Honor
Flight organization, a non-
profit group that flies veter-
ans on what they call “One
Last Mission.” They raise
enough money from dona-
tions to make four trips a
year. This latest one saw a
group of veterans from all
service branches and accom-
panying guardians, including
World War II vets, many in
wheelchairs.
One of the Honor Flight
leaders, Denise Rouleau, said
the group is inviting the few
surviving World War II vet-
erans plus Korea servicemen
as the priority, with vets from
Vietnam and later conflicts
next. Rouleau, who owns a
Seattle advertising agency,
said working with the group
is rewarding. “It’s such a great
opportunity to have these vets
share their stories,” she said.
She encouraged people to
apply through the group’s
website.
The trips cost about $1,000
per veteran. Thanks to dona-
tions from supporters, they
travel free.
Grateful for hospitality
“We didn’t put out a dime.
Everything was taken care
of,” said Cochran, who was
presented with a medal by the
government of South Korea,
and returned home with sou-
venirs including a T-shirt,
photos and a packet of poi-
gnant handwritten letters
from children thanking him
for his service.
A baseball cap given to
Korea veterans carries the
motto “Forgotten Victory,” a
slogan reflecting that the con-
flict, which was authorized by
President Harry Truman, was
considered a police action
rather than a war. The con-
flict did not have congressio-
nal approval, and did not end
conclusively.
“I am so grateful to the
Honor Flight people,” said
Cochran. “It was quite an
experience, because they were
things that I had not seen,”
noting he visited Arlington
National Cemetery, as well as
the war monuments. “It was
really an honor.” The World
War II, Korea and Vietnam
monuments have been added
to the National Mall land-
Tax: Republicans spoke against bill
Continued from Page 1A
Certain urban hospitals
are now charged an assess-
ment of 5.3 percent, set to
expire in 2019. The legisla-
tion would extend the assess-
ment two years and increase
it to 6 percent for those hos-
pitals, and establish a new
4 percent assessment on net
revenue of rural hospitals.
The expansion of Med-
icaid under the Affordable
Care Act allowed more peo-
ple to qualify for the gov-
ernment’s health care pro-
gram: as of May 1, more than
a million Oregonians receive
health care through the Ore-
gon Health Plan. The federal
government picks up most
of the tab, though Oregon’s
financial responsibility for
the program is growing.
The proposal also creates
a 1.5 percent tax on commer-
cial health insurance premi-
ums, and premium equiv-
alents for managed care
organizations and the Public
Employees’ Benefits Board,
which oversees benefits for
certain public employees.
Several Republican legis-
lators spoke against the legis-
lation in a late Thursday floor
session, saying that the tax on
insurance premiums would
have an adverse effect on
schools and small employ-
ers paying for their employ-
ees’ insurance, and increase
the cost of health care cover-
age for students at the state’s
public universities.
The vote on the tax comes
near the end of a week of
more critical news about
the Oregon Health Author-
ity’s troubled management
of the expansion population,
including the outsized costs
of an information technology
system to handle eligibility
for the program.
Rep. Knute Buehler,
R-Bend, as well as Rep. Ced-
ric Hayden, R-Fall Creek,
and Rep. Julie Parrish, R-Tu-
alatin/West Linn, spoke out
against the bill. Buehler said
that the legislation failed
to hold the Oregon Health
Authority to account.
About 12,000 students
enrolled in health plans
through public universities
would be subject to a 1.5 per-
cent premium tax.
Rep. Dan Rayfield,
D-Corvallis, a supporter of
the bill, said that the monthly
increase in premiums would
be less than $7 a month for
students who have health
plans through Oregon’s pub-
lic universities.
Rayfield also noted that
legislators approved a 1 per-
cent tax on insurance premi-
ums to cover children under
Healthy Kids legislation in
2009.
“The sky didn’t fall … but
children across Oregon got
health care,” Rayfield said.
The bill, which comprises
a significant portion of law-
makers’ attempts to close a
$1.4 billion budget gap, now
goes to the state Senate.
The Capital Bureau is a
collaboration between EO
Media Group and Pamplin
Media Group.
marks since the 1980s. The
Korea monument, dedicated
in 1995 on the 42nd anniver-
sary of the armistice, features
a triangular mural wall and
stainless steel statues of mil-
itary personnel in distinctive
helmets and rain gear.
The group was given a
flag-waving send-off and a
return party at Seattle-Tacoma
International Airport. Alaska
Airlines decorated its aircraft
with patriotic colors in addi-
tion to its distinctive Eskimo
logo on the tail. A flight atten-
dant wore a 1950s’ uniform,
complete with pillbox hat and
hose with the visible seam
down the back of the legs.
Transportation Security
Administration staff at both
airports shepherded them
through checkpoints with
minimal discomfort while air-
port passengers applauded
and saluted them. On arrival
in Washington, D.C., their
buses had a police escort with
Patriot Guard motorcyclists,
who even stopped freeway
traffic to give them priority.
Keeping
memories alive
The faded and stained cita-
tion is kept in a frame at the
Cochran home. “After the fire
was under control, you con-
tinued to assist in removing
damaged aircraft and clear-
ing away the wreckage from
the flight deck so that flight
operations could be resumed
after a minimal delay,” wrote
his captain. “Your devotion
to duty and exemplary con-
duct were in keeping with the
best traditions of the Naval
Service.”
While Cochran lives with
sadness recalling those Navy
pilots who died off the coast
of Korea, family members
say telling his story publicly
for the first time is therapeu-
tic. He has had six decades to
ponder the arbitrary nature of
wartime deaths. “It was just a
case of a piece of metal fail-
ing,” he said.
Now the second generation
of Cochrans can tell their own
children that grandpa was a
hero. “They went through
absolute hell and they get to
do this ‘One Last Mission,’”
said Raymond Cochran, who
is also grateful to the Honor
Flight program. He noted
his father has softened — he
smiles more since their trip to
Washington, D.C.
“He kept that inside him
and never talked about it. I
feel blessed that I can share
the story with my family
about a young, wide-eyed
Texan kid doing a man’s job.”
Continued from Page 1A
Three singles — “Heart-
break Kid,” “Rocket Sum-
mer” and “Yellow Light” —
are now available, each with
its own music video. On
June 23 — the day the full
album debuts — the band
will play a record release
show at Portland’s Missis-
sippi Studios, followed by
a run of Pacific Northwest
shows.
New rebirth
The band has had multi-
ple rebirths. They are now
in what they believe is the
final iteration, which con-
sists of three core members
Fagerland, the frontman;
his older brother, Jon Fager-
land, a multi-instrumentalist;
O’Connor; and Joey Ficken,
the drummer and newest
member who joined in 2015.
Besides venturing into a
new realm of self-disclosure,
“Night Terrors” represents
another personal victory:
They recorded and pro-
duced it themselves, mark-
ing the first time Holiday
Friends has created an album
independently.
For years, the band
focused on writing upbeat
music that people could
dance to. “Chicks” in par-
ticular was “silly, playful,”
O’Connor said. “Practically
every song was an inside
joke.”
But this time they wanted
to compose closer to the
heart.
A handful of Scott Fager-
land’s lyrics emerged from
“the compounded feelings
of not being able to get to
where I wanted to go with
the band,” he said. Some
were born of the dread that
striving artists know well:
that perhaps, after years of
effort, they may never earn
enough money or exposure
to make their art a full-time
gig.
“We’ve been trying for
years to have this be what
we do,” O’Connor said,
“and getting some traction
here, some traction there, but
never having it just take.”
The band worked to jus-
tify every note and phrase,
to make each song resonate.
“Every component needed
to kind of earn its keep,”
O’Connor said.
“We’re all pretty happy
with it,” Scott Fagerland
said.
“Part of me wants this
record to be a foundation for
what’s to come,” he added.
“And maybe, from this point
on, people will start to be
like, ‘Oh, that’s Holiday
Friends’ sound.’”
Sense of place
Early on, the band con-
sidered moving from small,
rural Astoria to Portland or
Los Angeles, Scott Fager-
land said, “because we’re
kind of more of a pop rock
band, and we should be get-
ting our disco pants on, our
shiny coats, and going to
Hollywood, trying to hit the
big time.
“But the longer we stay
here, we’re just like, ‘Man, I
don’t want to live anywhere
else,’” he said, with a laugh.
O’Connor said, “This
town has some sort of mag-
netism, I don’t know what it
is, but I experience it all the
time.’”
The latest songs con-
tain more Pacific Northwest
imagery than does their pre-
vious work; there’s a stron-
ger sense of place.
“For a long time, I just
didn’t feel like where we
lived mattered. But I think it
does now,” said Scott Fager-
land, who in “Yellow Light”
sings: “You’re the yellow
light of a North Coast town /
You’re dancing on the water
…”
Rather than move to a
big city to engage in a Dar-
winian struggle with other
bands, Ficken said, “we’re
focusing more on quality of
life — and the ability to take
advantage of the current age
of music, which means that
you can live anywhere and
still reach a lot of people if
need be.”
And for their cover
art, they turned to Darren
Orange — a prominent and
distinctive local painter with
an instantly recognizable
style — who gave them per-
mission to use his work.
Catharsis
Though the band has yet
to achieve full liftoff, Scott
Fagerland has wondered
lately if that kind of suc-
cess — on the order of The
National and Local Natives
— is something he still
wants to attain.
He began to let go of that
sense of discontent a few
years back, he said, when
Holiday Friends was push-
ing extra hard to get discov-
ered and fall into a full-time
touring circuit.
Now they doubt whether
that should be their focus.
For, in the end, “we just want
to make music, and we want
to make music that we care
about.”
“And not go broke doing
it,” Jon Fagerland added.
To be sure, that old feel-
ing — of wanting to explode
onto the popular music scene
— is still there. “You’re just
like, ‘Wow, we have been
doing this for a long time.’”
Scott Fagerland said. “It can
feel like you’re just pushing
a rock up the hill.”
But allowing these
thoughts to inform “Night
Terrors” was, for him, a
cathartic experience, one he
hopes listeners can relate to.
“It’s not meant to be a
sad record. Overall, it’s pos-
itive,” he said. “But there’s
just those moments, where
you’re like, ‘Yeah, I’ve felt
that way before, and it feels
good to hear it.’”
Debris: ‘This is significant’
Continued from Page 1A
from a structural part of a ship
to debris still washing ashore
from the tsunami in Japan in
2011.
Dewey, an anthropol-
ogy and archaeology adjunct
instructor at Clatsop Commu-
nity College who specializes
in investigating shipwrecks,
said there are many ways to
determine age. Some meth-
ods include looking at differ-
ent types of fastening, machin-
ery cuts and analyzing wood
samples to see if the species
is local or from somewhere
around the world. “The fact
that it’s washed up onto the
beach, it means it could be
from anywhere on the coast,”
Dewey said. “Trying to find a
record of a ship that matches
this piece of wood from a
wreck would be difficult.”
Shipwrecks are not uncom-
mon along the Oregon Coast.
Three men using metal detec-
tors in the dunes uncovered a
large piece of wood in 2014
that turned out to be a 1950s
Colin Murphey/The Daily Astorian
The wood beam has notches cut into the sides and rusty
nails protruding from the surface.
trawler, and a 21-foot keel
turned up in the dunes at Sea-
side in 2015.
Ultimately, the state will
determine what to do with the
object and whether or not it is
valuable enough to move and
conserve. With the closest con-
servation lab in Texas, Dewey
said, transportation and con-
servation costs would climb
for an object so large and
heavy.
“This is significant,” he
said. “This could be many
things, but it’s still really cool
for anyone interested in under-
water archaeology.”