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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 7, 2019)
NORTHWEST East Oregonian A2 Thursday, November 7, 2019 After the Blitz, RAF vet lands in Wallowa County By BILL BRADSHAW EO Media Group JOSEPH — How does a young English girl who served in the Royal Air Force end up in Joseph, Ore- gon? To tell the full story would take a long time to tell — just about 100 years. That’s because Gladys Huffman will turn 100 in January. But for this Veterans Day, she’s one of the few World War II veterans left in Wal- lowa County — and the only one still living at the Alpine House in Joseph. Born in January 1920 in Birkenhead, England, Huff- man was just 19 when Great Britain declared war on Nazi Germany after Hitler’s Sept. 1, 1939, invasion of Poland. Like many of her coun- trymen — and women — she wanted to join the war effort. At first, she volun- teered as an air raid war- den and spotter in her home- town. Both Birkenhead and Liverpool were prominent shipbuilding centers, and thus targets of the Luftwaffe — the German air force. “We had an anti-aircraft gun parked right outside our house,” she recalls, say- ing she was based near her home. She even remembers after one Luftwaffe raid, the EO Media Group Photo/Bill Bradshaw Gladys Huffman, a World War II veteran of Britain’s Royal Air Force, sits covered in a quilt presented to her by the American Legion, of which she is a member in her own right. She was a war bride to a pilot in the U.S. Army Air Forces and has been a citizen since 1945. She now lives at the Alpine House at Joseph. building in which she was taking shelter was hit and heavily damaged, but she and others survived in the basement. “We didn’t know how we were going to get out until a pickaxe came through the wall and somebody asked if we were OK,” she says. As an air raid warden, she helped enforce black- outs during the Blitz — Ger- many’s early, unsuccessful effort to bomb Britain into submission that culminated in British victory in the Bat- tle of Britain — and after a bombing by the Luftwaffe she would call in where emergency services were needed. She says that on one Forecast for Pendleton Area TODAY FRIDAY Cool with periods of sun SATURDAY Rather cloudy SUNDAY Periods of clouds and sunshine MONDAY Some sun Chilly with clouds and sun occasion, her family spent 10 days in an air raid shelter. She says the bombings during the Blitz and the blackouts were the worst parts of the war she experi- enced personally. “You couldn’t see any- thing (at night),” she says. “You couldn’t even see the street signs to know where 55° 34° 59° 41° Three employees have been on paid leave since spring By JAYSON JACOBY EO Media Group 48° 28° 59° 33° HERMISTON TEMPERATURE FORECAST 51° 26° 52° 32° 56° 39° 49° 25° 58° 31° OREGON FORECAST ALMANAC Shown is today’s weather. Temperatures are today’s highs and tonight’s lows. PENDLETON through 3 p.m. yest. HIGH LOW TEMP. Seattle Olympia 59/40 52/35 52/27 Longview Kennewick Walla Walla 48/32 Lewiston 58/36 49/27 Astoria 61/39 Pullman Yakima 51/27 57/33 52/34 Portland Hermiston 61/38 The Dalles 51/26 Salem Corvallis 58/31 Yesterday Normals Records La Grande 56/33 Eugene Bend 57/33 62/33 Ontario 56/25 Caldwell Burns 0.00" 0.00" 0.22" 4.94" 6.46" 7.50" WINDS (in mph) 56/26 60/21 BRIEFLY PRECIPITATION John Day 62/36 56° 24° 55° 35° 68° (1934) 10° (2003) 24 hours ending 3 p.m. Month to date Normal month to date Year to date Last year to date Normal year to date Albany 58/31 0.00" 0.00" 0.24" 11.31" 8.25" 10.23" Today Boardman Pendleton Medford 68/35 Fri. ENE 3-6 NNW 4-8 ENE 3-6 NNW 4-8 SUN AND MOON Klamath Falls 64/26 Forecasts and graphics provided by AccuWeather, Inc. ©2019 Sunrise today Sunset tonight Moonrise today Moonset today 6:43 a.m. 4:34 p.m. 3:01 p.m. 1:29 a.m. Full Last New First Nov 12 Nov 19 Nov 26 Dec 3 NATIONAL EXTREMES Yesterday’s National Extremes: (for the 48 contiguous states) High 94° in Palm Springs, Calif. Low -4° in Dunkirk, Mont. two others present, Lucas said. Woolf’s hearing will start at 2 p.m. at Sumpter City Hall, 240 Mill St., fol- lowed by separate hearings for the McKinneys. Lucas said he didn’t know which McKinney would have the first hearing. The city council will not take public comments during the hearings, Lucas said. Whether the council will decide on any action regard- ing the employees’ status during Thursday’s meeting depends on what happens during the hearings, Lucas said. through 3 p.m. yest. HIGH LOW TEMP. Pendleton 55/31 58/34 24 hours ending 3 p.m. Month to date Normal month to date Year to date Last year to date Normal year to date SUMPTER — Three Sumpter city employees who have been on paid admin- istrative leave since this spring will have a chance to defend their performance to the city council on Thursday afternoon. LeAnne Woolf, book- keeper and assistant city recorder for the city, which has a population of about 210 and is about 28 miles west of Baker City, was put on leave May 14. Two of Sumpter’s three other city employees — City Recorder Julie McKinney and Public Works Director Jeff McKinney, who is her husband — have been on leave since June 14. Each of the three employ- ees has asked that the hear- ing take place during a meeting open to the public, rather than during an exec- utive session from which the public can be excluded, Sumpter Mayor Greg Lucas said. The three employees will have separate hearings of up to 30 minutes, without the HERMISTON Enterprise 51/28 53/30 55° 28° 54° 35° 74° (2006) 15° (2003) PRECIPITATION Moses Lake 57/31 Aberdeen 48/30 49/31 Tacoma Yesterday Normals Records Spokane Wenatchee 59/41 conscripted, something American women haven’t experienced. Huffman was given a job as an accountant handling the finances of British and foreign pilots. That’s how she met her first husband, Willard W. Davis. An American, Davis went to Canada to try to enlist in the Royal Canadian Air Force. “He wanted to go in right now” to be a fighter pilot, Huffman said. But since the process of becoming a pilot with the RCAF was going to take too long, he instead got his wings with the air force of the Polish government in exile. He got his training and wings from the RAF, wore an RAF uniform, but flew in a squadron with Poles and other non-Brits. Davis flew for the Poles and the RAF until Amer- ica came into the war in December 1941. “He wanted to fly under his own colors” and trans- ferred to the U.S. Army Air Forces, Huffman said. The couple married in June of 1943 and her RAF service ended. By then, the Allies were pushing back on nearly all fronts, but Davis didn’t want his bride in harm’s way and sent her to America. Hearings set for Sumpter city workers PENDLETON TEMPERATURE FORECAST 51° 28° you were. That was the hardest to take.” Of course, the worst experience for her and her family was what happened to two of her brothers, Reg- inald and Victor Favager, who also were in the RAF. Huffman said that one night, during the same raid over occupied Europe, both the Lancaster bombers her brothers were aboard were shot down. Victor, who had lied about his age and enlisted at 17, was killed and Reginald, 19 at the time, was taken prisoner. Regi- nald was captured near the site where the Germans were doing rocket tests and he was accused of being a spy. “He was treated very badly by the Nazis,” she says, adding that he did sur- vive the war. As a plane spotter, she would identify whether flights of planes were friend or foe and count the num- bers of enemy planes. Later, she became one of the early volunteers in the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force. “At first, the RAF didn’t want women,” she says. “You had to be able to do a man’s (desk) job to release him to go to the front.” Later on, she says, as Britain got more desperate for manpower, women were NATIONAL WEATHER TODAY Police: Semi driver kidnapped, assaulted woman at Costco HILLSBORO — A truck driver was arrested after police say he kidnapped a woman in Tacoma, Washington, drove her to Hillsboro and assaulted her on the load- ing dock of a Costco store when she tried to escape. The Oregonian/OregonLive reported Alfonzo Summers was driving his trac- tor-trailer in Tacoma when a woman he didn’t know asked for a ride, according to Hillsboro police. Sgt. Eric Bunday says the woman asked Summers to take her to another part of Tacoma but that Summers refused to let her out and drove to Hillsboro. On Monday, someone called police to report seeing a man assault a woman out- side Costco. The man, who police later identified as Summers, then drove away. Soon after, a caller to 911 reported the truck was stuck on railroad tracks. Sum- mers ran, but police officers arrested him. He faces charges including kidnapping and strangulation. 3,000 gallons of sewage spills into Willamette River PORTLAND — A pipe carrying raw sewage spilled an estimated 3,000 gallons into the Willamette River in downtown Portland. The Oregonian/OregonLive reported the city’s Bureau of Environmental Ser- vices said crews discovered the spill around 10:30 a.m. Tuesday. Sewage flowed into the river at the Eastside Esplanade north of the Morri- son Bridge. Crews stopped the spill by 2:30 p.m. by making a temporary repair on one of the city’s sewer lines. To put 3,000 gallons in context: The city’s treatment plant takes in 70 million gallons of sewage a day. Drug charge dropped against former tribal police officer YAKIMA, Wash. — A federal drug charge against a former Yakama Nation police officer has been dismissed, while his sentencing for a child pornography convic- tion has been rescheduled. The Yakima Herald reported 39-year- old Lorenzo Elias Mendez was charged with one count of possessing more than 1.76 ounces of methamphetamine with intent to distribute. A U.S. district judge has issued an order granting a motion by federal prosecutors to dismiss the charge without prejudice. The charge cannot be filed again. Mendez had pleaded not guilty. Mendez was convicted in August of one count of attempted production of child pornography. — Associated Press Shown are noon positions of weather systems and precipitation. Temperature bands are highs for the day. -10s -0s 0s showers t-storms 10s rain 20s flurries 30s snow 40s 50s ice 60s cold front E AST O REGONIAN — Founded Oct. 16, 1875 — 211 S.E. Byers Ave., Pendleton 541-276-2211 333 E. Main St., Hermiston 541-567-6211 Office hours: Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Closed major holidays EastOregonian.com To subscribe, call 1-800-522-0255 or go online to EastOregonian.com and click on ‘Subscribe’ East Oregonian (USPS 164-980) is published daily except Sunday, Monday and postal holidays, by the EO Media Group, 211 S.E. Byers Ave. Pendleton, OR 97801. Periodicals postage paid at Pendleton, OR. Postmaster: send address changes to East Oregonian, 211 S.E. Byers Ave. Pendleton, OR 97801. 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