NORTHWEST
East Oregonian
A2
Tuesday, November 24, 2020
Navy frogman reflects on WWII experiences
embraced them as though
they were long-lost brothers.
“They were afraid that
we had died because we had
been gone so long,” Rudd
said.
This was understandable,
considering they were part
of an underwater demolition
team, one of a number that
helped give rise to today’s
legendary Navy SEALS.
Rudd’s team was responsible
for checking the harbors of
islands occupied by the Jap-
anese — islands the United
States was preparing to
invade. The teams checked
for coral reefs and obstacles,
such as steel triangles the
Japanese placed in harbors
to sink incoming ships. Rudd
often evaded enemy gunfire
while swimming in harbors.
He said he likely escaped
because the Japanese often
were firing from 200 yards
away and because he made
for a small target.
“Often only my head was
sticking out (of the water),”
said Rudd, who grew up in
La Grande.
Still bullets came danger-
ously close to hitting him,
something he could easily
see because of how they rico-
cheted off the waters he was
in.
Rudd was a member
of Underwater Demoli-
tion Team Three. Today, the
names of all members of the
Navy’s underwater demo-
By DICK MASON
The Observer
COVE — Almost eight
decades ago the hopes of
Wally Rudd, a U.S. Navy
frogman, were sinking like
an anchor.
Rudd, who had just sur-
vived a dangerous World
War II island mission in the
South Pacific, was begin-
ning to wonder if he would
ever catch a plane in Guam
back to his military base at
Hawaii’s Pearl Harbor.
Rudd, who now lives in
Cove, had gone weeks with-
out getting a seat on a plane
bound for Pearl Harbor
because the U.S. military
was giving top priority to
officers, letters and packages.
A frustrated Rudd then
took matters into his own
hands — he airmailed him-
self, postage-free, to Pearl
Harbor.
The Navy frogman and
a friend snuck onto a plane
bound for Pearl Harbor and
hid under bags of mail. Rudd
said military bosses thought
the pair were in with the mail
and yelled for them to come
out.
“But we didn’t,” Rudd
said, “and they never came in
and checked on us.”
When the stowaways
arrived at Pearl Harbor they
were not disciplined as mis-
chievous rule breakers.
Instead, their fellow sailors
Dick Mason/The Observer
Wally Rudd of Cove holds a 50-caliber bullet on Nov. 17, 2020,
at his home in Cove while recounting his experiences while
serving as a Navy frogman in World War II.
lition teams, including that
of Rudd, are displayed at
the National Navy SEALS
Museum in Fort Pierce, Flor-
ida, said Jack Johnson of
Cove. Johnson is a retired
Oregon National Guardsman
and a good friend of Rudd’s.
Navy SEALS today are
equipped with high-tech div-
ing gear including air tanks,
which do not emit telltale
bubbles. Such equipment is
light-years away from what
Rudd and the other Navy
frogmen had at their disposal
during WWII. All they had
were face masks, fins and
Forecast for Pendleton Area
TODAY
WEDNESDAY
Mostly cloudy
Clouds and sun,
showers around
48° 36°
48° 35°
THURSDAY
FRIDAY
Intervals of clouds
and sunshine
SATURDAY
Mostly sunny and
chilly
42° 28°
44° 28°
By MIKE ROGOWAY
The Oregonian
Mostly sunny
43° 25°
HERMISTON TEMPERATURE FORECAST
50° 33°
48° 35°
49° 27°
42° 28°
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
50/41
Kennewick Walla Walla
50/38
Lewiston
52/42
48/37
Astoria
52/42
41/34
43/28
Longview
24 hours ending 3 p.m.
Month to date
Normal month to date
Year to date
Last year to date
Normal year to date
Pullman
Yakima 43/32
50/41
46/37
Portland
Hermiston
52/43
The Dalles 48/35
Salem
Corvallis
52/39
Yesterday
Normals
Records
La Grande
42/35
PRECIPITATION
John Day
Eugene
Bend
54/41
48/29
46/29
Ontario
43/30
45/33
42/25
0.03"
1.64"
0.89"
3.93"
4.95"
8.20"
WINDS (in mph)
Caldwell
Burns
50°
29°
47°
31°
70° (2017) -11° (1985)
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
52/41
through 3 p.m. yest.
HIGH
LOW
TEMP.
Pendleton 40/33
52/41
0.10"
2.40"
1.09"
12.16"
11.54"
11.12"
HERMISTON
Enterprise
48/36
47/38
44°
28°
45°
31°
75° (1933) -12° (1985)
PRECIPITATION
Moses
Lake
52/40
Aberdeen
40/32
37/31
Tacoma
Yesterday
Normals
Records
Spokane
Wenatchee
52/43
Today
Medford
51/38
Wed.
SSW 4-8
S 6-12
Boardman
Pendleton
Forecasts and graphics provided by AccuWeather, Inc. ©2020
Full
7:07 a.m.
4:16 p.m.
2:13 p.m.
1:12 a.m.
Last
New
First
NATIONAL EXTREMES
Yesterday’s National Extremes: (for the 48 contiguous states)
High 85° in McAllen, Texas Low -4° in Jackson Hole, Wyo.
Nov 30
Dec 7
Dec 14
Dec 21
NATIONAL WEATHER TODAY
Shown are noon positions of weather systems and precipitation. Temperature bands are highs for the day.
-0s
0s
showers t-storms
10s
rain
20s
flurries
30s
snow
40s
ice
50s
60s
cold front
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IN BRIEF
Western Oregon to make cuts
as university faces crunch
Master’s in Music and Master’s in Informa-
tion Technology programs.
MONMOUTH — Several positions and
programs at Western Oregon University will
be reduced and eliminated next year in an
attempt to curb a growing concern for the
institution’s financial stability.
The Statesman Journal reported the uni-
versity’s board of trustees on Nov. 18 approved
an adjusted 2021 budget, which required an
update on fall 2020 enrollment numbers.
The previous budget, initially adopted at
the board’s June meeting, was based on a pro-
jected enrollment decrease of 2.5%, officials
said.
Because of the COVID-19 pandemic
and “many other factors,” officials reported
enrollment was actually down about 7.9%.
Officials said the new budget reflects the
resulting decrease in revenue, as well as
financial shortfalls caused by a shift to mostly
remote instruction. Cuts in spending, salaries
and other expenses will be used to cover the
deficit.
This includes the university reducing
or eliminating nearly three dozen full-time
equivalent positions and programs, including
the elimination of a major or minor in anthro-
pology, a major in philosophy and the entire
Inmate at Walla Walla prison
dies of COVID-19
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52 weeks
26 weeks
13 weeks
during that period — and
perhaps not after the new
Congress and new president
take office in January 2021.
Some workers will be
eligible for other extended
benefits, but the Ore-
gon Employment Depart-
ment estimates as many as
70,000 in the state could
lose those benefits or others
for self-employed workers
when they expire on the day
after Christmas.
Absent new federal sup-
port for workers and busi-
nesses, Oregon’s state fore-
casters say the damage the
pandemic has inflicted on
the economy could inflict
long-term harm.
“Given that the end of the
pandemic is in sight, pro-
vided the vaccine or medi-
cal treatment truly is avail-
able sooner rather than
later,” the wrote, “the key to
a full economic recovery is
limiting the amount of per-
manent damage done in the
meantime.”
WSW 7-14
WSW 8-16
Sunrise today
Sunset tonight
Moonrise today
Moonset today
45/27
-10s
SALEM — Oregon’s
recovery from the coronavi-
rus recession will likely be
much faster than from prior
downturns, state economists
said last week in their quar-
terly economic forecast.
The state’s jobless rate has
plunged by more than half
since the start of the pan-
demic, from 14.9% in April
to 6.9% last month.
And yet they said there
are growing signs of “per-
manent damage” to Ore-
gon’s economy as the
number of long-term unem-
ployed soars.
The number of Orego-
nians who have been out of
work for at least six months
numbered nearly 55,000
in October, quadruple the
13,000 who had been out
of work that long before the
pandemic.
“The longer a spell of
unemployment lasts, the
lower the probability of
finding a job and the higher
probability of dropping out
of the labor force entirely.
This reduces the productive
capacity of the economy
as fewer people are avail-
able for work,” state econ-
omists wrote in the Nov. 18
forecast.
In March, Congress
extended the duration of
unemployment
benefits
from the usual 26 weeks by
an additional 13 weeks. Ore-
gon has paid out $189 mil-
lion of those extended bene-
fits during that period.
That 13-week extension
expires at the end of the
year, though, and there’s no
indication the divided Con-
gress will act to extend it
SUN AND MOON
Klamath Falls
Rudd left LHS in 1943 at
age 17 to join the Navy. He
returned home four years
later, but was told by a school
staff member he would not
be allowed to graduate until
he paid for two unreturned
library books and a desk he
had carved his name in.
La Grande High principal
Ron Walk then told the staff
member that this was no way
to treat a returning service-
man and told Rudd to come
back the next day. The fol-
lowing day, Walk awarded
Rudd and three other veter-
ans their diplomas.
“If it was not for Ron
Walk, I would not have got-
ten a diploma,” Rudd said.
The sheepskin helped
Rudd land a railroad job. His
later work included a 12-year
stint with the La Grande Fire
Department.
Although Rudd today is
credited with being part of
a program that evolved into
the Navy SEALS, he hum-
bly said he would not have
wanted to serve as one.
“Their training is twice
as tough as the training we
received,” Rudd said.
Johnson, who has known
Rudd for decades, describes
him as a delightful, one-of-a-
kind person.
“He’s loves people and is
always upbeat. He’s a won-
derful guy. You will never
meet anther Wally,’’ Johnson
said.
Economy facing ‘permanent damage’
Nearly 55,000
Oregonians have
been out of work
for last six months
as of October
PENDLETON TEMPERATURE FORECAST
47° 29°
sand shoes — no air tanks or
even snorkels.
“Those would have been
nice to have,” Rudd said.
In lieu of oxygen sources,
frogmen had to work under-
water on a single breath.
Rudd was able to work three
minutes at a time on one
breath.
“You can do this if you are
in good shape,” he said.
The perils frogmen faced
were great, but perhaps not
as frightening as the Japa-
nese kamikaze planes that
passed over the convoys of
ships Rudd was with during
South Pacific journeys. The
planes often appeared to be
diving into the ship Rudd
was on, but always hit other
crafts in his convoys instead.
Still, Rudd did not emerge
from WWII unscathed. He
was on one ship a bomb hit.
Three pieces of its shrapnel
struck Rudd on his right side.
The shrapnel burned at first,
but Rudd never experienced
great pain.
“I had three chunks of
steel under my skin,” Rudd
said.
Doctors did not remove
the shrapnel, which broke
down over time.
“I had that shrapnel until
1963,” Rudd said.
The
Navy
frogman
escaped serious injury in
WWII, but saw many people
around him on ships die or
suffer grave wounds.
“I would see guys who
had really taken a beating,
who had no arms or legs or
had their belly shot up, but
I never heard them moan-
ing. They never said a word.
I really admired them,” said
Rudd, who has lived in Cove
with his wife of 57 years,
Marilyn, for 45 years.
Wally Rudd, 94, was
born in Nebraska and later
moved to the Ontario area
where he attended Ontario
High School. His family later
moved to La Grande, where
he enrolled at La Grande
High School.
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WALLA WALLA, Wash. — An inmate
at the Washington State Penitentiary in Walla
Walla has become the third incarcerated per-
son to die in a state prison from COVID-19.
The Department of Corrections said
62-year-old Michael Cornethan died on Satur-
day, Nov. 21, at a Walla Walla medical facility
of COVID-19 and other health-related issues.
Cornethan had been in prison since 1983,
serving a a sentence of life without parole for
aggravated murder out of King County. He
had been housed in long-term medium cus-
tody at the Washington State Penitentiary.
The prison’s Medium Security Units are
currently on quarantine status to further con-
tain the spread of COVID-19.
Two earlier COVID-19 related deaths
occurred in June at the Coyote Ridge Correc-
tions Center in Connell.
The Washington State Penitentiary cur-
rently has 38 confirmed cases of COVID-19
among staff, and 110 confirmed cases among
prisoners.
— Associated Press
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