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About Vernonia eagle. (Vernonia, Or.) 1922-1974 | View Entire Issue (March 1, 1945)
Loggers Capture District 14 Leadership; Win First Bout with Gresham Tues. Vivid Picture Of Jap Prison Life Portrayed Letters Tell Story Of Privations and New Found Freedom The two letters following have been received in the last few days by Mr. and Mrs. F. R. Olin from their daughter, Mrs. IVincent Gowen, who with her two child ren, Geoffrey and Ann, and her husband, has been held captive by the Japs since the fall of the Philippines. The letters are en lightening as to the conditions under which American prisoners have been forced to exist: Manila, P. I. Bilibid Prison, Feb. 7, 1945. Dearest Mother and Dad, “We sent a short message a few days ago but can now write. I wont go back too far, for we can tell you everything when we get home, which wont be long off now. There’s a rumor we are to fly to Leyte and be shipped home from therq. “We had a very simple Christ mas at Camp Holmes but were quite happy knowing the end couldn’t be far now, then like a bolt of lightning we were all ordered to Manila on the 26th of December. I have never had such a ghastly trip. 35 to 40 in each small truck, plus all our luggage and 5 Japanese guards. I could n’t even move a muscle most of the time. We were brought here to Bilibid Prison, the most awful and the filthiest hole you could imagine. The war prisoners (A- merican) were across the hall but we couldn’t contact them. We ar rived at 12:30 at night and woke up in the morning (if we slept!) eaten alive with bed bugs. I killed 300 on our nets and blank ets! We finally made the place habitable with Geoff making a comfortable chair and stool. He’s very handy. We’ve had no newspapers or radio of any kind for months (and then it was only Japanese lies), so it has been a long, long wait. The Americans came in unexpectedly the evening of February 4th just after we’d been given our release by the Japanese. When we saw the tanks coming in Quezon Blvd, we could n’t believe our eyes. It’s been one continuous exciting hour after another. The noise is terrific. The city was burning Monday night and oil and ammunition dumps exploding constantly so on an hour’s notice we were loaded on trucks and sent up to Angtibay. While we were gone Filipinos got in the building and looted every- thnig we had! Geoff and Vincent have what they stand in. I have little more. We have lost every thing probably as the Japanese are retreating up the mountain trail. They had already taken most of our things. “We came back to Bilibid yes terday afternoon and a regular battle royal was going on all around us last night. I have den gue fever at the moment and feel lousy. Vincent had letters todav We received two from you Def ore telling of Milly and Betty’s ba bies. I am so thrilled and anx ious to see them. Most anxious about the boys. I hope they are still safe. Was heavenly to see American soldiers and Old Glory waving. I never want to see a Jap again in my life. All the events lately make us glad and grateful we are Americans. You can’t imagine how we’ve longed for Uncle Sam's shores! We shall see you soon. And is it heaven ly to eat something besides corn and rice.” Love to all, Frances. Manila, P. I. Feb. 11, 1945. Dearest Da<f, "This is supposed to be a birthday letter. I was so' ill on the 9th with Dengue I couldn’t write, and I’m only just able to sit up today. I had my biggest birthday present of the war—freedom, so I can say it was a happy one. Three have gone by since I expected to celebrate and now this one I was ill. The night we were evacuated from (Continued on page 6) TB UNIT VISIT ANTICIPATED County News Final details regarding the coming visit of the tuberculosis X-ray unit will be under discus TIGERS HOLD sion next Monday at the meeting COUNTY TITLE CLATSKANIE — Clatskanie is of the Columbia County Public Health association in St. Helens. the undisputed basketball champ The association is to meet at the ion of Columbia county, and also Congregational church that even has a chance to go to the “B” ing March 5, at 6:30 p. m. for tournament at Salem. The choice will be made by a a dinner which will be followed play-off of the two “B” districts. by a business meeting. A state public health official They are composed of: (1) Col will be present, according to Mrs. umbia, Clatsop, Tillamook and Violet Young, publicity chair Washington counties; (2)Clack- man, and will explain details of amas, Multnomah, Polk, Yamhill the visit. Although the date is and Marion counties. The winner not definitely set, it is thought of district (1) plays the winner that the unit will enter this coun of district (2) for the trip the Salem “B” tournament March ty March 28. Anyone who is interested in the 15-17. Clatskanie traveled up-river to work of- the county association is invited to attend Monday even top St. Helens in an overtime tussle, 32-34, in the last league ing’s meeting. Mention was also made that game of the season. By winning all funds from the sale of Christ this game the Tigers claim county mas seals has not been turned in. championship, having won seven Those having funds from this sale games and lost one. are urged to send them in so a INFANTILE PARALYSIS complete tabulation of results DRIVE NETS $406.01 may be made. RAINIER — The infantile paralysis drive for Rainier netted $406.01, after all expenses were deducted. The employees of the VanVleet Lumber company alone raised $104. The Rainier grade school In reply to a telegram— sent netted $30.47, and the high last week by the Nehalem Val school $27.94. A dance given by ley Rod and Gun club, Manley the committee raised a little over J. Wilson, state representative, $50 of the fund and boxes placed in a letter to the club reported in business housed added to the that House Bill No. 378 prob total. ably would be acted upon early The $406 reported does not in this week by the Joint Committee clude $22.86 raised by the Rainier on Game and Fisheries of the theatre or collections in boxes on house. the rural mail route, which will Representative Wilson stated be added to the final amount in his letter: credited Rainier. “Contrary to the reports that appeared in the newspapers, INDUSTRIAL SAFETY there is a great difference of TRAINING CLASSES ST. HELENS — Industrial opinion regarding the provisions of this bill with a great deal of safety training classes for the opposition developing from Tilla foremen and other employees of mook county as well as from the St. Helens Pulp and Paper Lincoln county. Efforts are be company and the Fir-Tex Insulat ing made to compose these dif ing company have been inaugurat ferences by amendments to ed. Classes are held once a week House Bill 378 and by other bills which are to be introduced for five consecutive weeks, each which would protect the spawn lesson taking two hours. The ob ing grounds and provide further jective of the courses is to train regulation to fishing on the leadership in accident prevention work through the organization of coastal streams. “I sincerely hope that mem an active safety plant organiza bers of the two Committees will tion. be able to work this problem out PARALYSIS FUND and submit a satisfactory pro IS OVERSUBSCRIBED posal to the House, as I believe CLATSKANIE — The com that sooner or later such a pro munity of Clatskanie responded gram will necessarily have to be well in the infantile paralysis put into effect.” x drive recently closed here with practically $900 sent in from this locality. Ward Robertson was local chairman and issued the finan cial statement for the drive as follows: money from boxes and District superintendents of the individual donations $223.72; or Oregon and the Washington E- ganizations $97; 7th Special CB vangelical conferences will be in $100; dance $64.04; grade school Vernonia Sunday, March 4, ac $33.58; Avalon Theatre $200.92; cording to announcement by Rev. high school $31.20; Girl Scouts Allen H. Backer, Evangelical $78.20 making a total of $826.66. minister. Rev. C, P. Gates of the Washington conference will be $130 Subscribed Sunday the speaker at the 11 a.m. service Red Cross Sunday at the E- and a special meeting is planned vangelical church was successful for 2:15 that afternoon with to the extent that $130 was sub slide pictures at that time and scribed to that organization by also at 7:00 o'clock in the even members of the congregation. ing. Rev. P. P. Petticord of the The amount was raised through Oregon conference will speak at 25 people. * one of the day’s services. A pot-luck luncheon will be served at noon in the church social hall. Teachers and officers of the church are urged to at tend. Fish Bill Gets Consideration Church Advance Meetings Intended SEWING TO CONTINUE Red Cross sewing of kit bags will cointinue as usual this Fri. Mrs. Harry Culbertson announces. Material for 25 more of the bags has been received and when com pleted will be followed by hospital sewing. The work will begin at 1 o’clock. GETS CROSS AWARD With the 15th AAF in Italy, 1st Lt. Marshall C. Makinster, 23, son of Mrs. W. H. Chalker of Rainier, Oregon, is a pilot of a B-17 flying fortress operating from an advanced base in Italy, he recently was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for “extraordinary achievement in aerial flight.” Presentation of the decoration was made by Colonel Paul L. Barton, group command er. Lt. Makinster also wears the Air Medal with two oak leaf clusters, awarded for “meritor ious achievement in aerial flight.” HERE ON FURLOUGH Pvt. Henry T. Hudson of Ft. Lewis arrived Sunday to spend a 15-day furlough visiting his par ents, Mr. and Mrs. O. M. Hudson. Hudson is attached to the med ical department checking recruits and overseas personnel. RAY JUSTICE HERE Ray Justice spent a few days last week end here, leaving Mon day on his return to army duty. He has been stationed at Topeka, Kansas and Mrs. Justice has been there with him. She returned al so and plans to reside here. Ray expects to be sent to overseas duty upon returning. He is tail gunner on a Liberator bomber. ENLISTS IN MARINES Daniel H. Rollins, 17 son of Mrs. Emma C. Taylor of Wilark, enlisted in the marine corps Feb ruary 26. He is now awaiting orders to go to San Diego for boot training. Rollins is a student of Verno nia union high school where he is a football, basketball and track letterman. • HOME ON LEAVE Ellis Austin, Aer. M. 2c, son of Mrs. A. L. Austin arrived home a few days ago on a 20-day leave. TRAVELS 16,000 MILES RIVERVIEW — B. W. Bas sett, QM3c, son of Mr. and Mrs. A. L .Bassett, who left the states last October writes that he has traveled 16,000 miles of the Pa cific ocean. He has been at Man us Island; Hollandia, Fincshaven and New Guinea. He also was in the Luzon invasion. HERE ON LEAVE RIVERVIEW — Melvin Pow ell, AMM2c, arrived here Thurs day evening on a 30-day leave from San Francisco. He accomp anied his parents to St. Helens Sunday to visit his aunt, Gladys Peterson. GETS SPECIAL TRAINING Lt. Harry Culbertson, Jr. spent two weeks during February at Orlando, Florida, where he re ceived special training at a weather school. He had been sta tioned at March Field, California, previous to going to Florida and may have been assigned to return there. CPL. WORKMAN ON LEAVE Cpl. Robert Workman, who is attached to a military police com pany, is at home on the Rocking W ranch for a 12-day furlough. His station is now at Brigham City, Utah, and the trip home was coincidental with a trip made in line of military duty. KEASEY — Pvt. Joseph Lind- sley arrived at his home near Kea- sey Saturday from Camp Swift, Texas. He has a 10-day furlough. KEASEY — Lloyd Osborn, son of Mr. and Mrs. O. B. Bittner, who formerly resided here, has received a medical discharge from the army. GETS TRANSFER “TELL THE FOLKS bock ho«« fin safe’’-—Aa American fighting ■an at an advanced position in Germany rests on's captured anti tank gun to send word to his family through a Red Crow field iirector and were never in danger. The entire starting lineup scored heavily in the following order: Nance, Byers, Rollins, Sturde vant and Larson. The same even ing the Rainier Columbians oblig ingly eliminated the Scappoose Indians from title consideration. —' In a telegram received here Wednesday morning by Mr. and Mrs. Tom Turner, from Pvt. Geo. Turner, he told them that he was being transferred to Kil- lene, Texas from Santa Barbara, Cal. where he has been stationed since being here on furlough. 1945 Canning ■ Sugar Explained The local war price and ration ing board has received informa tion from district headquarters, Portland, relative to the 1945 pro gram for home canning sugar. Ap plications will not be accepted by local boards this year prior to May 15, 1945. Reason for the later opening date for the home canning season in this district is that in Oregon the first can ning fruit, other than rhubarb, is the early berries. Tuesday night an old fash ioned donnybrook was offered a capacity crowd as Gresham and Vernonia opened an inter-dis trict three-game playoff series to determine who will get the coveted trip to the state tourna ment on March 15, 16 and 17. It was early evident that both teams had visions of the pot of gold at the end of the basket ball trail as they battled at These do not make their ap breakneck speed throughout the pearance in the markets until the 32 minutes to leave the score latter part of May or the first Vernonia 37, Gresham 36 at of June. Past experinence has the gun. Both teams seemed to been that if canning sugar is a- feel the pressure of champion vailable earlier in the year it is ship play which was evidenced by too often used for canning rhu erratic floor play by both teams barb and when strawberries, ap and a foul shooting slump which ricots, peaches and pears appear hit the local squad. on the market the consumer is out of sugar. FINAL DIST. Team Vernonia St. Helen* Scappooee Rainier 14 STANDINGS Won Lost Pct. 4 ■ 2 .666 * 3 .500 3 3 .500 3 4 .333 The limitation^ this year is a maximum of 20 pounds per per son or a total hot to exceed 160 pounds per family if there are more than 8 persons in the fam ily group. The game started fast as Gresham jumped into an early lead on two quick baskets by Owens and Tucker, the scoring aces of the Gophers. The Log gers, without the services of the floor general, Freddie Larson, who was used only a few min utes due to two badly cut fing ers, fought back determinedly to knot the count at 12 to 12 at the quarter. Logger hopes looked slim as the teams left the floor for the intermission after a dis astrous second quarter. A Goph er scoring spree sent the visitors out in front 24 to 18. Bids Acceptable For Beaver Items A reorganized Logger team came out for the second half and by a third-period rally tied the boys from the base of Mt. Hood and took a 30 to 29 lead at the three-quarter mark. The last quarter saw the overflow crowd on its feet throughout as the two teams battled on exactly even terms during the last eight minutes. Tuesday’s victory puts the Logger machine out in front in the race for a state tourna ment berth. Coach Robbins takes his determined squad to Gresham Friday night where they will try to cinch the series and make un necessary a third game on a neutral floor. Buildings included in the sale are houses, barns, store build ing, garage and chicken house. The post engineer at Beaver will show the buildings and will assist anyone interested in mak ing out b|d forms. Full descrip tions of the property is available at the Vernonia Eagle office for local people who may wish to bid. St. Helens 28 43 Vernonia Barker 20 F 7 Sturdevant Huntzinger 4 F 10 Byers Huston 1 8 Rollins C Day 1 G 12 Nance Snider 1 6 Larson G Urie 1 S Referees: Johnson, , Gordon. Vernonia 37 36 Gresham Sturdevant F 14 Owens Byers 6 F Jacobson Rollins 8 G 14 Tucker Nance 8 G 4 Ham Larson C Ambrose Riley 2 S 2 Butzen Parker 4 S 2 Rite hards Referees: Eilers, Molitor HERE FROM TEXAS GETS DISCHARGE WELFARE AID DUE Mrs. Eva Tice, county welfare official, will visit Vernonia Tues day, March 6, to aid anyone with problems they may have. Anyone wishing to see her may do so that day at the bank build ing. THOSE WHO ABE IN IT The Vernonia high school Loggers notched two important victories since the Eagle last came off the press. Coach Orile Robbins’ boys won the District No. 14 championship by convincingly trouncing their old rivals, the defending, champion St. Helens Lions, 43 to 28, before a record-breaking crowd Friday night. The loggers took a 7 to 0 lead in the opening minutes Tourney to Name County Champion Washington grade school’s bas ketball team will go to St. Helens Friday and Saturday to partici pate in this county’s champion ship play. The tournament is be ing held to name a team which will go to Hill Military Academy March 9 and 10 for basketball games between championship teams located in Oregon Counties north of the Willamette valley. Ten counties will participate in the Hill tourney. Sealed bids will be received until 10 a.m. Thursday, March 15 for the sale and removal of some buildings and ptâperty lo cated at the ammunition backup staging area at Beaver approx imately five miles northeast of Clatskanie. Bids may be submit ted for one or any number of i- tems but a seperate amount must be bid for each building and im provement. ClothingCollection Totals 980 Lbs. Results of the drive sponsored here a week or so ago for the collection of clothing for Rus sian relief were available this week. The collection totaled 980 pounds and was shipped to Port land Tuesday of last week by the Nehalem Valley Motor Freight. Tre drive was sponsored locally by the American Legion and Auxiliary arfd the results were more successful than was anti cipated when the drive began. Auction Successful NATAL— The Columbia coun ty Red Cross chapter will bene- bit by $223 as the result of the Natal Grange auction sale held there last Sunday. Articles were contributed for sale by many people and lunches were sold, which further swelled the fund which will be turned in. The Natal Grange expresses its thanks to everyone who participated in the affair. Gas Pump Broken Vandals were responsible for breaking into the Big Eddy gas pump last Thursday night and for causing general damage on the premises. No word has been received as to parties responsible and difficulty was experienced in obtaining the services of po licemen to attempt an investi gation into the vandalism.