OFF PAGE ONE
Thursday, April 21, 2022
East Oregonian
country. People were thrilled.
Each aircraft had a story of
derring-do, skill, courage and
patriotism, of 80 volunteers
willing to take the fight to the
enemy.”
Doolittle:
Continued from Page A1
Erick Peterson/East Oregonian
Diners congregate at the Hermiston Food Pod on Friday,
April 15, 2022.
Food:
Continued from Page A1
“If we can play music and
have a place for people to go,
maybe they won’t get into so
much trouble,” he said.
Customers
enjoy the pod
Rosa Alonzo, Umatilla
resident, made a special trip
to eat at the food pod April 15.
She said she likes Magui’s the
best but will choose different
trucks. While she eats at one,
the people who accompany
her often get food from other
trucks before sitting down at
one of the benches at the pod.
“We come out here quite a
bit,” she said. “We enjoy the
variety of foods.”
Hermiston residents Shay
Godden and James Wiggins
were at another table. They
heard of the Filipino food
at the pod. Though they
only rarely came to the pod
previously, they dined there
April 15 to try lumpia.
They also said they were
enjoying the atmosphere.
“It’s kind of like the fair,”
Godden said.
Wiggins, who has worked
at various fairs, agreed. Like
the fair, the pod is lively,
they said.
Vendors tell
their stories
Godden and Wiggins
obtained their Filipino food
from Maureen Dickens,
owner of Twisted Filipino
Variety Cuisine.
Dickens said she is from
the Philippines, where her
family operated restaurants.
It gave her experiences with
food and a love of the restau-
rant business.
“Ever since I was little, we
had a restaurant,” she said.
Three weeks in business,
she said this is her first restau-
rant in the U.S. She offers
foods from her native country,
Hawaii, America and more.
Her American offerings,
she said, include chicken
tenders, which are popular.
Her husband, she said, is
retired, and she is semi-re-
tired, which is why she said
she prefers food truck work
over opening a regular restau-
rant. It is easier, though still
hard, she said.
Tim Wilson, Krack Burger
owner, was taping a menu to
his truck on Friday, his first
day of operations. Foods, such
as burgers, hotdogs, shakes
and ice cream, were all on that
menu.
“I’m new to the food truck
industry, but not to the restau-
rant business,” Wilson said.
He said he had a restau-
rant in the Tri-Cities that was
bought out by his ex-wife.
“She didn’t want a partner,
and I totally understand,” he
said.
Now a Hermiston resi-
dent, he said he is excited for
this business venture. Restau-
rants are fun, he said, and food
trucks are booming. He said
he expects to do well.
Berenice Rodriguez, of
Alma’s Express, said she is
optimistic, too. She serves
smoothies, nachos, breakfast
burritos and more, and she
said business is good.
“We wanted to have our
own business and not work for
anybody else,” she said.
Having worked for others
at restaurants and other trucks,
she said she has long wanted to
have her own business and not
be beholden to someone else.
Kalani Morales works
at Bobablastic, which offers
orange chicken, churros, boba
tea and more. She said this
business is good for her. She
also has a job at Panda Express
in Hermiston and working at
the pod means she can earn
extra income while enjoying
herself, too.
“I like it, I really do,” she
said. “It’s fun.”
Dalene Hadley operates the
Grizzly Grill, offering grilled
cheese sandwiches, corn
dogs, fries and more. She said
she has had the business for
around 10 years but frequently
moved during. Now, she said,
she plans to stay still, with the
exception of a few upcoming
events.
“I like it,” she said. “The
people here are really good,
and it’s less work.”
Being in a fixed location,
she does not have to bother
much with hooking and
unhooking utilities.
Throughout the renova-
tions, Tacos Garcia was the
lone truck able to stay open
because it operates on the
other side of a short fence from
the other restaurants. Rigo-
berto Garcia is its owner.
Garcia said he is happy to
see a filled pod. Yes, they are
within a short distance of his
food truck. And, yes, he said,
some customers may choose
to eat at other food trucks
instead of his. Still, Garcia
said, the pod attracts many
customers, bringing many
diners to his truck for his wide
selection of tacos, burritos and
more.
“There’s enough for all of
us,” he said of the custom-
ers. “And I like my neighbors.
There’s business for every-
body.”
More changes to the
pod are coming, Hunt said.
According to Hunt, live bands
will perform starting in the
middle of May.
The pod is open seven days
a week, 11 a.m. to around
7 p.m., though not all vendors
are open each day. Some
vendors might expand to offer
breakfast, Hunt said.
The Army in February
1942 reassigned the B-25-
equipped 17th Bombard-
ment Group at Pendleton
Field to Columbia Army Air
Base, South Carolina, where
Doolittle formed volunteer
crews to train for the raid.
To commemorate the 80th
anniversary of the daring
exploit, the Oregon Army
National Guard flight facil-
ity on the west end of the
Eastern Oregon Regional
Airport dedicated new
plaques for the Guard’s B-25
exhibit. And the Pendleton
Air Museum that evening
held a fundraising dinner
with auctions at the BackFire
Station also in remembrance
of the raid, complete with
senior members of Veterans
of Foreign Wars Post 922
presenting the colors.
A7
Memorials on display
East Oregonian, File
A B-25 bomber from the 17th Bombardment Group takes
off from the deck of the USS Hornet on April 18, 1942, on its
way to bomb the city of Tokyo. Sixteen bombers flew from
the carrier on the raid that Lt. Col. Jimmy Doolittle led. Al-
most all of the 80 airmen in the raid trained at what was
then Pendleton Field, the military base in Pendleton.
Recalling the raid
PAM board member,
retired Army aviator Col.
Tim Kelly, introduced
keynote speaker, retired
Army Maj. Gen. Fred Rees
of Helix, to the sold-out audi-
ence. Kelly pointed to photos
of the brave bomber crew
members adorning the west
wall. He noted volunteers
for the seemingly suicidal
mission served in the 17th
Bombardment Group, based
at Pendleton Field from June
1941 to February 1942.
Its four squadrons were
the first to receive B-25s and
most experienced in operat-
ing them. Of the 80 airmen
in the raid, 71 survived. Two
crew members drowned.
The Japanese captured eight,
executing three of them, and
four died of starvation and
maltreatment.
Only Oregon native Staff
Sgt. Jake DeShazer lived to
return to Japan as a mission-
ary. Other Raiders died
during the war.
Kelly’s fellow Vietnam
War veteran Rees graduated
from Griswold High School,
the U.S. Military Academy
at West Point, New York,
and from the University of
Oregon Law School. Rees
served four times as adju-
tant general of the Oregon
National Guard. He was
chief of staff of U.S. North-
ern Command, director of
the Army National Guard
and twice acting chief of
the National Guard Bureau.
After retiring, Rees returned
to his family’s ranch.
“From my earliest days,
the sacrifices of veterans
were impressed upon my
mind,” Rees said. “Five
uncles served in World War
II, not in B-25s, but in B-24
bombers in the Southwest
Pacific. All had stories to
share.”
He added, “There was a
significant amount of pride in
Pendleton’s association with
the Doolittle Raiders. As a
youngster, the history of the
barracks, hangar and guard
shacks at the airport made an
impression on me.”
Rees recalled he was in
second or third grade in the
early 1950s when he saw
the “Thirty Seconds Over
Tokyo” in a Pendleton movie
house. The 1944 film starred
Van Johnson as pilot Ted
Lawson and Spencer Tracy
as Doolittle. It was nomi-
nated for technical Academy
Awards and won for best
special effects.
Lawson wrote the book on
which the movie was based.
He and three other crew
members were badly injured
while ditching on the China
coast. Only one member,
engineer/gunner, David
Thatcher of Montana, was
in good enough condition to
help his comrades. He died in
2016, aged 94, the second-to-
last surviving Raider. Co-pi-
lot Dick Cole died in 2019 at
the age of 103. The mission’s
flight surgeon amputated
Lawson’s leg in China.
“The raid was import-
ant, so that people knew we
could strike back after Pearl
Harbor,” Rees said.
Just nine days before the
raid, Americans and Filipinos
surrendered at Bataan.
“It was not a great time for
the people of the U.S.,” Rees
continued. “While the raid
didn’t cause a lot of damage,
a morale boost swept the
Rees was instrumental
in building a second Oregon
Army National Guard Avia-
tion Support Facility at Pend-
leton in 1996.
“It was in my mind to
dedicate the facility to the
Doolittle Raiders and Pend-
leton Field,” he said. “We
collected and displayed
memorabilia from the outset.
At the dedication, we were
honored to host a few Raid-
ers.”
And he wanted to have a
display of a B-25 Mitchell
bomber, but that didn’t pan
out. The U.S. made thou-
sands of the planes, he said,
but finding one proved a
challenge,
“The surviving Doolit-
tle Raid plane was rumored
still to exist in Vladivostok,
but that was too far,” he said.
“We found one in (Texas),
dismantled, transported
and reassembled it. With
the help of the air museum
and community people, we
restored it in the Chinook
hangar. It’s now on display
at the facility.”
T he O regon Mili-
tary Department, Rees
concluded, would like to
make a public plaza around
the bomber, and he thanked
the crowd for their “enthu-
siasm and support for this
event tonight to commemo-
rate some of America’s great
heroes.”
Live auctioneer Ford
Bonney of Hermiston said,
“Growing up here, I didn’t
know about this history. So
it’s great what you’re doing.”
———
East Oregonian news
editor Phil Wright contrib-
uted to this article.
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Curb and sidewalk improvements remain underway Tuesday,
April 19, 2022, along the Southeast Court Avenue side of the
Hamley Western Store & Saddle Shop in downtown Pendleton.
Upgrades:
Continued from Page A1
“We’ve talked with some of
them about how they can stay
open,” he said. “Visibility is the
main problem. A lot of custom-
ers don’t see the open signs.
We’re trying to make sure that
people can see those signs.”
Davis added most of the
work will wrap up in about
two weeks, and after that,
“just odds and ends will
bring us back.”
Taylor on April 19 said she
has reached out to officials
about the situation.
“I talked to everyone,” she
said. “The mayor came down. I
talked to ODOT and the county
commissioners. You gotta
know what you don’t know.”
And she stressed the trans-
portation department is not
planning on compensating
her business. If it was only a
few days, she said, that would
be OK.
“But weeks?” she said “No.”
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