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October 3, 2003
Oroville Mercury March 22,1945

BOB RONEY FIRES TORPEDOES AT THE JAPANESE
Robert Roney, Torpedoman 3-C, is serving in a submarine somewhere in the Pacific. Such strict censorship is maintained in that branch of the service that he has not been able to write home about where he has been or what he is doing. He enlisted in January 1943 and received his initial training at Norfolk, Va., and New London, Conn. Just before being sent overseas 13 months ago, he was able to fly home for a short visit. Roney is the son of Mrs. Neva Smith of Myers Street and attended the local schools where he excelled as a hurdle jumper and won medals at district meets. He also played football for Oroville High and was interested in hunting.

NEWS FLASHES FROM FOUR OROVILLE BOYS

A Letter from Mrs. C. J. Wheaton of Livermore tells about four Oroville boys who are fighting in various parts of the world. Pfc. Wilbur Wheaton of the 3d Tank Battalion Marine division is now fighting on Two Jima. He attended both grammar and high school here and won his Block O in track. He was a mile runner and also was drum major for the Boy Scouts Drum and Bugle corps.

Leon Comipton,
Technician 4th class, is in the 40th Tank Battalion fighting somewhere in Germany. He says the going is tough and he longs for some California weather and a home cooked meal. His father lives in Thermalito and he attended Oroville schools.

Sgt. Art Allison
is now in India with a heavy artillery unit. He graduated from the local high school in 1935 and has been over seas for three years. His brother,
Sgt. Vernon Allison, is on Saipan with the Air Corps. He was wounded during the invasion of that island and was in the Saipan hospital for a while. Fifty awards ranging from the Distinguished Service Cross to the Bronze Star have been awarded to members of this battalion, most of them for action in Italy. Over 200 such awards are pending. Four division citations have also been awarded.

Joe May Now Petty Officer 1st Class

Joseph P. May of the U. S. Navy has been promoted to the rank of petty officer first class, he told his wife, Mrs. Gertrude May of Oroville, in a letter recently. He has been with the Navy in the Pacific for over three years and is serving on a sub-chaser at the present time. He was at Iwo Jima. Mrs. May is making her home with her mother Mrs. Margaret Fenley of Hewitt Ave. There is a baby, Margaret Ann, two months old, whom the father has never seen and a son Joseph Frederick. May attended school in Oroville and prior to entering the Navy was employed as an electrician's helper at the Western Pacific roundhouse. His brother-in-law, Frank Fenley of the Marine Corps, also saw action at Iwo Jima. In a letter to his mother he said when he first got there "the Japanese were thick as flies but all was quiet now."
 
From Sgt Deborah Shaner, Iraq:  Hi everyone, Well it 1ooks like we will be here until May 2004, If you have not heard National Guard and Reserve units have been extended to complete one yer on country. (Iraq/Kuwait). I am on a trip here to Kuwait.  We had a mission to deliver equipment for Company out of _____. They have Chinooks. They get to go home because they had a their paperwork completed before the extension for NG troops came out. We got to go into Kuwait City to the mall. It was interesting to at their grocery items. The meat department is almost all lamb. They even sell lamb’s feet instead of pig’s feet. The shelf items seem to be mostly American products but no beer, only near beer. We had dinner at Applebee’s. I wanted to go to an authentic Arabic restaurant. Oh well maybe on the next trip. Talk to you later, Debbie.
 
Stu’s notes: We were getting a little worried ass three weeks ago Debbie's e-mails stopped. We knew her duty was extended as her commander wrote us a nice letter explaining the situation. Basically they did such a good job they could stay. Thank you Uncle Sam. Just when you think today’s generation is getting soft something like this (War In Iraq) happens and as always our young men and women step up to the plate and do the job.