HAZELNUT YIELDS
FALL SHORT OF
EXPECTATIONS
MANNING
LEADS GIANTS
PAST 49ERS
NORTHWEST/2A
SPORTS/1B
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 2018
143rd Year, No. 20
One dollar
WINNER OF THE 2018 ONPA GENERAL EXCELLENCE AWARD
VETERANS DAY
Remembering
‘the Forgotten War’
Staff photo by Kathy Aney
Mike Morehead of Pilot Rock patrolled the Mekong
Delta as part of the Mobile Riverine Force during the
Vietnam War.
Pilot Rock vet
recalls service on the
rivers of Vietnam
By PHIL WRIGHT
East Oregonian
Staff photo by Kathy Aney
James P. Daniel, of the Tri-Cities, salutes during a special tribute to Korean War and Korean service veterans on
Sunday at the Pendleton Convention Center. Daniel attended with his father, who is a Korean War veteran.
By JAYATI RAMAKRISHNAN
East Oregonian
ive years after the end of World War II, the U.S.
entered Korea following a series of conflicts
between North and South Korea along the border.
Though the conflict claimed thousands of lives, and
lasted three years, it was not officially recognized as a
war at first and, according to those who served there, it
did not receive the same level of recognition as previ-
ous wars.
On Sunday, Umatilla County marked two milestones
at its Veterans Day event: the 100th anniversary of the
armistice of World War I, and 65 years since the cease-
fire in Korea.
The event, at the Pendleton Convention Center on
Sunday, honored 30 veterans of the Korean War. Each
one came up to receive a certificate of a Congressio-
nal Citation, presented by local dignitaries, including
Sen. Bill Hansell, County Commissioner George Mur-
dock, and Kathleen Cathey, an aide to U.S. Sen. Ron
Wyden. A few of those honored were deceased, and
their awards were received by their widows or other
family members.
Each veteran also received a handwritten letter from
a student in Echo School’s second grade class, thanking
them for their service.
Pendleton Mayor John Turner, a Marine Corps vet-
eran, said the war is often known as “the Forgotten
War.”
“The nation had just won a victory in the Pacific,”
F
See WAR/10A
Staff photo by Kathy Aney
Korean War veteran Muryl Navratil, of Pendleton,
stands as the Army anthem is played during a
special tribute to Korean War and Korean service
veterans on Sunday at the Pendleton Convention
Center.
Mike Morehead of Pilot Rock survived 21 gun bat-
tles on a United States Navy monitor in the Vietnam War.
“Our deal was to be able to idle down and exchange
fire and show them what fire power was all about,” More-
head recalled.
Morehead, 71, was a radio operator on the floating
tank that was the Monitor M-6, but like the other five
crew members he trained
to do everything from
engine work to firing the
big 105-mm howitzer
on the boat’s bow. While
U.S. river patrol boats
were about 32 feet long,
swift and maneuverable,
the monitors were 60 feet
long and packed tons of
armor to hold off enemy
fire and even rocket pro-
pelled grenades. More-
head said the smaller boat
Contributed photo
were fast and fun to ride, Mike Morehead
of Pilot
but the M-6 could not Rock in his youth in the
even buck the tide.
Vietnam War.
“Nobody wanted to
ride this,” he said. “This was made to intimidate.”
Morehead and his fellow crewman intimidated time
and again on the waters of the Mekong Delta near Cam-
bodia. He said he called his brothers in arms on Sunday
because it was Veterans Day.
“I’m really close with those guys,” he said.
Morehead and two friends in 1965 went to Seattle to
join the Marines, he said, but his urine sample con-
tained too much of the protein albumin.
See VIETNAM/10A
UCFD sends crews to California blaze
By JAYATI
RAMAKRISHNAN
East Oregonian
Firefighters from Uma-
tilla County are in Califor-
nia, helping battle a blaze
that has been called one of
the most destructive in state
history.
Three Umatilla County
Fire District personnel were
dispatched to Chico last
weekend. Battalion Chief
Ed Clark and firefighters
Jessie Brown and Chance
Mikaelsen were assigned to
the Camp Fire, which, as of
Monday, had burned more
than 113,000 acres, 6,400
homes, and killed 29 peo-
ple. It is the largest of three
major fires currently burning
in California. As of Monday,
it was 25 percent contained.
The cause of the Camp
Fire, in Butte County, has not
yet been identified.
UCFD Battalion Chief
Corey Gorham said the
UCFD crew was assigned
to 24-hour on, 24-hour off
shifts, and that they are work-
ing with a task force that
includes Central Oregon and
Union County crews. Gor-
ham said whenever a major
fire occurs, the Oregon State
Fire Marshal’s Office sends
out requests to local depart-
ments, who determine which
of their personnel can go
AP Photo/John Locher
Fire crews clear rubble from the road near a building
burned in the Camp Fire on Monday in Paradise, Calif.
assist. Gorham said firefight-
ers have to be able to com-
mit to a 14-day assignment,
which limits the number of
people who can go. Those
who have assisted at other
out-of-state fires recently are
at the bottom of the list.
Gorham said UCFD sent
firefighters to California
around this time last year for
other wildfires, but that was
the only other time he could
recall sending personnel out
of state.
The firefighters are com-
pensated overtime for their
out-of-state service.
Another massive wild-
fire burning in the state,
the Wollsey Fire near Ven-
tura, has scorched more than
91,500 acres since Thursday,
and killed two people. Fire-
fighters are working to con-
tain several smaller blazes
around the state as well.