Image provided by: Morrow County Museum; Heppner, OR
About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 23, 2006)
Heppner Gazette-Tim es, Heppner, Oregon Obituaries Lorna Elaine Davis Local Marine Travis Bellamy in article Tank mechanics crucial to Marines’ efforts in Iraq / Editor’s note: Cpl. Travis Bellamy is the son o f Sam Lorna Elaine Davis, and Mary Kay Bellamy o f 82, of Irrigon, died Aug. 16, Lexington. He graduated 2006 at her home. from Heppner High School A m em orial in 2002.) graveside service will be held Published Aug. 16, 2006 at 1 p.m., Saturday, Aug. 26 By StafT Sgt. Jim (nxidwin, 1st at the D esert Law n M arine Division M em orial C em etery in L eaning on an Irrigon. Disposition was by cremation. A gathering will American tank in Iraq’s A1 follow at Stokes Landing A nbar p ro v in ce, Cpl. Manuel Morangomez says Senior Center in Irrigon. She was bom July 8, he doesn't need any medals 1924, in Portland, to Lige or "atta boys” to help him get and Wilma Boyer Eaton. She through a seven m onth graduated from Girls Poly deployment. The satisfaction of High School in Portland. She worked for the telephone helping Marine infantrymen stay alive in arguably Iraq’s company. She married Walter most dangerous region is all Davis on Sept. 14, 1970, in the reward the 26-year-old Marine needs while serving Vancouver, WA. She lived in in this combat zone. "This tank is saving G resham , P o rtlan d and lives,” said Morangomez, a moved to Irrigon in 1997. She was a member of tank m echanic w ith the the VFW Ladies auxiliary, Twentynine Palms, Calif.- Irrigon Watermelon Festival based Company C, 1 st Tank board and the P lanning Battalion. “This keeps grunts Commission. She enjoyed from getting killed. When we c ro c h etin g , k n ittin g , send these back into the traveling. Fishing, gardening fight, that’s the reward.” The Dallas, Texas, and canasta. She is survived by native, along with the half- her husband; d au g h ters, dozen or so other mechanics Karen Hunt of Vancouver, on this sp raw lin g U.S. WA and Debra Lehman of military air base, spend 12- Portland; step d au g h ters, plus hours a day, usually six Patty Foreman of Boring and o r m ore days a w eek, Crystal Thurman of Auburn, repairing and maintaining the WA; son, Gary William Falk com pany’s fleet of M1A1 o f G resham ; step so n , Main Battle Tanks. C C om pany is M ichael F eldm ann o f M arion, MT; sister, Lois cu rre n tly attach ed to P ackard o f S e a ttle ; 11 Regimental Combat Team 7, grandchildren; three great the U .S. m ilitary unit grandchildren; and a niece. responsible for providing M e m o r i a l security and mentoring Iraqi contributions may be made Security Forces in western to the A m erican C ancer Anbar - an area more than Society, in care o f Burns 30,000-square miles in size, M ortuary o f H erm iston. or about the size of South w hich is in care o f Carolina, according to the Marines here. arrangements. Working in blistering Jean Elizabeth heat, the mechanics have spent nearly two days now McElhinny tearing apart one o f the Nelson c o m p a n y ’s 6 8 -to n , tan- Jean E lizab eth co lo red tanks to find a McElhinny Nelson, 90, died damaged component, hidden Aug. 19, 2006 at M ount w ell w ith in the ta n k 's Angel. underside. She was bom Oct. 8, The task seem s 1915 at Roseburg. tedious, but the mechanics A celebration of life seem used to spending is tentatively scheduled for countless hours tinkering Sept. 11, 2006. and handling thousands of O b itu ary and metallic parts to reach one information to follow. broken component. Sweeney Mortuary “If the mechs don't of Heppner is in charge of do their job well, these tanks arrangements. don’t roll - period,” said G unnery Sgt. Jeffrey W. Hyrne, a 32-year-old from L o u isv ille , Ky., and Company C ’s maintenance ch ief. “ It could cost someone, or a crew, their lives.” Heppner In a d d itio n to G azette-Tim es supporting the regiment 's infantrymen with massive 676-9228 BUSINESS CARDS 4th Annual Fund Raising Dinner to b en efit th e lo n e E ducation Foundation RUCTION an d RAFFLE ITEMS Saturday, S ep te m b e r 23rd S o c ia l hou r at 6 p .m . / D in n er at 7 p .m . at th e lo n e A m e r ic a n L eg io n H all Menu: Prime Rib, Crab, Shrimp, Salad, Baked Potato, Dessert. Two drinks included with meal (choose from beer, wine and soft drinks). Ticket Prices: Adults - $25.00 Children 12 and under - $10.00 6 and under - free Tickets available at Bank of Eastern Oregon, lone amounts of firepower on the battlefield, C C om pany’s tanks and their crews are considered an invaluable asset to M arines “on the ground” - they add an extra layer o f p ro tectio n for p atro ls and convoys traveling Iraq’s bomb-laden roads. They also provide added protection for U.S. and Iraqi military posts and p atro ls th ro u g h o u t the region, not to mention the “intimidation factor” a 68- ton tank rolling down a road can instill in insurgents. But Iraq’s blistering summer temperatures and rough terrain can take their toll on military vehicles, even tanks. C Company is also charged with conducting resupply missions, adding more wear and tear on the tanks. The m echanics collectively stated that for every hour a tank is operated, about six hours of reg u lar m ain ten an ce is required to keep the tank operable, “give or take.” “There will always be som ething to fix, and when there are problems with it, troubleshooting can be extremely difficult,” said Cpl. Travis P. Bellamy, one o f C C o m p a n y ’s tank mechanics who works with 1st Battalion, 7th Marine Regim ent near the Iraqi- Syrian border. “For example: a wire harness with 200 wires in it. If one of those wires is faulty, you have to figure out one by one which wire it is that’s bad,” continued Bellamy, a 22-year-old from Heppner, Ore. As tank crews roll their tanks back onto the Company's wide-open lot, commonly referred to as "the ramp" by the Marines who w ork here, i t ’s the mechanics’ responsibility to perfo rm both routine maintenance and assess and repair damage. But w orking on a tank is not like cracking open the hood of a car and going to work, according to the mechanics. An M1A1 has thousands upon thousands of various components and system s, which mean the m echanics are constantly learning as they work. “The m anual’s not alw ays going to tell you what’s broke and how to fix it,” said Lance Cpl. Robert S. C o llin s, who says he “learns something new every day” as a mechanic. "These tanks are logging in some time, and you are constantly working.” At 25, Collins is the group’s junior Marine, and m echanic. He joined the Corps in October 2(X)4, after returning to high school to earn his diploma - “The day I had all my credits in my tran scrip t. I went to the re c ru ite r’s o ffic e ,” said Collins, a native of Atlanta, Ga. A side from “ the Gunny,” Morangomez is the c re w ’s sen io r man - he serves as the “ramp c h ief’ noncommissioned officer - a billet normally filled by a sergeant or staff sergeant. As such, he’s responsible for the facilities and equipment used on the large, open lot where C C om pany houses and maintains their tanks and other vehicles. S erv in g his th ird deployment in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom, M orangom ez says h e ’s worked on about 60 tanks in his four-plus years in the Corps. Like the rest of the m ech an ics, he said he c o u ld n ’t im agine doing anything else in the Marines. "Where else can you go and work long hours?” he said. “ Yeah, w e’re w ork a h o lics, (b u t) I love it. T h ere’s no other way to describe it.” By the end of their third day tearing apart this p a rtic u la r tank, the mechanics have discovered that the root of the problem - a dented fuel cell - is repairable, which saves the company from losing the tank entirely. Tanks which can’t be repaired by the mechanics have to be shipped elsewhere for repairs, or replaced all together. That means one less tank on Iraq’s roads, which is unacceptable to the mechanics. “These boys did a good job assessing it,” said Hyrne, a 14-year Marine veteran and the mechanics’ immediate supervisor. "We have to be able to get her up and running. You don’t want a tank out there and it breaks down.” “The maintenance is required and cannot be put o ff like you can put off maintenance on a car," adds Bellamy. “If the work is not kept up daily the tank will not run.” H yrne gave a bit more blunt example - “If they (mechanics) made even little mistakes, the engine could blow-up. and the tank would not operate at all.” In ad d itio n to maintaining the Company’s tanks and various o th er military vehicles, they're also responsible for recovering tanks, tru ck s, and o th er vehicles which break down “outside the wire” - Marine- speak for pretty much any lo catio n o u tsid e the p ro tectio n o f a base or outpost. U tilizin g a large, treaded, tank-like vehicle fitted with a large tow crane and cable, the mechanics can tow a broken-down tank or other vehicle back to their base so they can asses any damage and immediately begin repairs. P eering over his shoulder and breaking just long enough from his work on the tank to get a few words in, Cpl. Stephen R. U n iszk ie w ic z, of Centereach, N.Y., recalled the time the crew had to recover a tank which hit a mine and lodged itself into the side of a hill "It was brutal - 10 hours to get that tank moving,” said Uniszkiewicz, a 21 -year-old who is slated to marry his girlfriend in New York next year. A first time deployer to Iraq, he tries not to worry his family with too many details of what he's seen while serving in Iraq, he said. “ I ’m not w orried.. .but it’s harder for the family,” he said. “I’ve seen IEDs go off, and you get n ervous, but your training kicks in. It’s hard to explain that to the family, though.” About five months in to a sev en -m o n th deployment, C Company’s mechanics all have family and friends back in the States eagerly aw aiting their return - girlfriends, wives, mothers, children, parents. But these Marines, whose once-tan coveralls and combat boots now carry grease stains and worn spots, try not to think about home too much or what they’re missing back in the U.S. Instead, they stay focused on the task at hand - keeping the Company's tanks up and running, so the Marines “on the g ro u n d ” who daily combat a seemingly ever p resen t insurgency in western Anbar have a bit m ore firep o w er and protection. After all. tanks, and lives, are at stake. “I don’t keep track o f tim e out h ere,” said Morangomez. “I keep track of how many tanks we fix.” Over the Tee Cup Fifteen ladies gathered at Willow Creek Country Club, Tuesday, Aug. 15 for ladies' play. Virginia Grant took low gross of the field. Sandi Hanna, Evonne Severson and Bernice Lott tied for low net of the field. Joanne Barbee, Betty Christman and Pat Edmundson tied for least putts of the field. In flight A, Karen Thompson took low gross and long drive; Corol Mitchell took low net; and Eva Kilkenny took least putts and was closest to the pin on hole #10. In flight B, Lois Hunt took low gross; Luvilla Sonstegard took low net; and Hanna took long drive and closest to the pin. In flight C, Lorrene Montgomery took low gross and long drive; Pat Dougherty took low net and closest to the pin; and Suzanne Jepsen took least putts. Hanna had a birdie on hole #10 and Grant had a birdie on hole #18. Be sure to prepare for the Club Championship/Eddi Skow Tournament set for Sept. 5 and 6. Area non-profits receive grants The O regon C om m unity F oundation (OCF) has announced that in July, $5.5 m illio n in d esig n ated g ran ts were disbursed to 227 Oregon nonprofit o rg an izatio n s. OCF’s designated funds are those funds from which donors name one or more specific organizations they w ish to receive annual support. OCF is a permanent endowment built from funds created by donors who are dedicated to improving the q u ality o f life in th eir communities. Established in 1974, over the past three decades OCF and its donors have distributed more than $305 million in grants and sch o larsh ip s throughout Oregon. In total, July grants of $ 7 0,000 w ent to nonprofits in Eastern and Central Oregon. Highlights o f the g rants m ade in M orrow , U m atilla and Wheeler counties are: Blue M ountain C om m unity C ollege (P en d leto n )- $ 10.317 for scholarships for nursing students; Morrow County Museum (Heppner)- $3,728 for the purchase of books and materials; Cities o f F ossil. M itchell and Spray- $1,112 each for v o lu n teer am bulance services. AN AM ERICAN REVOLUTION SO THE 81 c BOYS YlOH T PLAY BALL XPPH YOU. Are you finding it difficult todcal with the “Big Boys?" I et’s face it, fancy new showrooms and big payrolls cost money... some of that cost is passed on to the buyer. \t Sherrell Chevrolet, you’ll find low overhead will save you money! Come on in... we’ll play ball with you and you'll come out the winner! Come enjoy a fun evening and help support the lone School. S m U U L CBUEVROLET The lone Education Foundation is a 501 (c)3 non-profit corporation. NEW CARS - 567-6487 • HERMISTON, OR - 800-567-6488 • USED CARS • 567-3919 t W ednesday, August 2 3 ,2 0 0 6 - T H R E E The Most Trusted Sam e In The Car Business Founded 32 years ago, the Oregon Community F oundation w orks in partnership with individual, fam ily, b u sin ess and organizational donors to im prove the lives o f O reg o n ian s through philanthropy and by building an endowment- now more than $768 m illio n - for O re g o n ’s future. O CF provides m ore than $42 million annually in grants and scholarships statewide. For m ore in fo rm atio n , visit www.ocfl.org or call (503) 227-6846. Red Hat meetings suspended The Red Hat R ow dies w ill suspend further meetings, due to lack o f participation. Anyone wishing to lead this group back to being active may call Sally Walker at 676-9112 or Julie Saling at 676-9957. HHS to hold student registrations H eppner High School will be holding new student and retu rn in g student re g istra tio n for stu d en ts in the seventh through 12lh grades on Aug. 25, from 8 a.m .-12 p.m. and 1-3 p.m. S tudent fees are: Student Body fee- 7-12 grades, $15; towel fee- $2; computer lab fee- $5; and yearbook (optional) $30. Student sport pay-to- participate fees arc: grades 7-8. $50 and 9-12. $75 per sp o rt. T here is a $150 m axim um sport fee per student per year and $300 maximum per family per year.
