WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 16, 2015
HERMISTONHERALD.COM • A3
LOCAL NEWS
WWII veteran to receive missing medals
By JADE McDOWELL
Staff Writer
A World War II veteran
is going to get the medals he
was promised 70 years ago.
After William Jones,
92, of Hermiston, ap-
peared in our sister pa-
per, the East Oregonian
last week, his niece Em-
ily Mellick said she was
contacted by Rep. Greg
Walden’s office who told
her he would make sure
Jones got any medals and
ribbons he had earned.
Sen. Ron Wyden’s office
also reached out with an
offer of help.
“I was shocked,” Mel-
lick said.
Starting in 1943 at age
19, Jones served as an
Army Air Force ordnance
worker at an airbase in
southern Italy, loading
bombs onto B-24 planes.
He returned to the United
States in 1945 in prepara-
tion for a new assignment
in the Pacific, but before
the Army could ship him
out again the war ended.
When Jones moved in
with Mellick last year,
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learning about his ser-
vice and was surprised
to learn that some of the
medals listed in his hon-
orable discharge papers
had never been sent to
him. She decided to work
on getting them for him,
even after being told ini-
tially that there would be
a $250 fee.
“He deserves it be-
cause he served our coun-
try and he earned them,”
she said.
Mellick said Walden’s
office sent her the proper
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paperwork needed to get
the medals free of charge
and she helped Jones fill
it out.
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today, so we should
hear back in a couple of
weeks,” she said. “He is
so excited.”
The medals listed on
his discharge papers in-
clude a service medal, a
good conduct medal and
a distinguished service
Death row inmate
dies at TRCI in Umatilla
Oregon’s oldest death Wallace Ruffner in Tualatin
row inmate died this week in 1985, convicted and sen-
at Two Rivers Correctional tenced to death. An accom-
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Institution in Umatilla.
Cornell, was acquit-
According to a
ted of the aggravated
release from the Or-
murder charges and
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convicted of felony
Corrections,
Mark
murder. He was re-
Allen Pinnell, 67,
leased on parole in
died of natural causes
September 2011 af-
at about 10:55 a.m.
ter serving nearly 26
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years in prison and
ber 14, 2 in the Two Mark
Allen
has since been re-
Rivers Correctional Pinnell
leased from parole.
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Pinnell has been
Pinnell has been
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Corrections custody since 2'& RI¿FLDOV
March 4, 1986, after con- said he was being tempo-
viction on a robbery charge rarily housed at the Uma-
in Clackamas Couty. He tilla facility for health rea-
was later charged with sons.
Earlier this year, Pinnell
six counts of aggravated
murder and two counts of sought clemency to be re-
murder out of Washington leased to hospice care due
County in the death of John to severe chronic pulmo-
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Pinnell, who was Ore-
gon’s oldest death row in-
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clemency from former Gov.
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nied his request shortly
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sought clemency from Gov.
Kate Brown in August, and
asked for an urgent review
of his case in October due
to failing health. Brown de-
nied the request.
citation. Mellick said
there are two ribbons not
listed on there that he
also earned but never re-
ceived.
She said she wasn’t
sure what she would do
when the medals final-
ly came, or how long it
would take for them to
arrive, but she did want
to have some sort of party
to celebrate. Friends and
relatives have taken an
Irrigon High School seeks student sponsors
Irrigon High School is
looking for community
organizations, clubs and
businesses interested in
sponsoring an Irrigon soph-
omore so they can attend
the Hugh O’Brian Youth
Leadership Conference.
The conference, which
is in May 2016 at Willa-
mette University in Sa-
lem, provides an opportu-
nity for each Oregon high
school to send three soph-
Starting in October, new law enforcement
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ating from Oregon’s Public Safety Academy.
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Justice, according to an announcement from
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Standards and Training. He graduated on
Oct. 30.
Oregon State Police in Hermiston also
received a new recruit following an Oct. 2
graduation.
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to you and yours, from
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211 SE Byers Ave.
Pendleton
omores to gain leadership
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The cost is $250 per
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a student, call Mike Royer
at 541-922-5551.
$reD lDZ enIorcePent receiYes neZ oI¿cers
interest, she said.
“A lot of people have
stopped by and said
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helping your uncle; keep
up the good work,’” she
said.
333 E Main St.
Hermiston
