January 3, 2003

Looking Back on Oroville's Heroes                           

By Stu Shaner

These stories are about the men and women who went to war so that we might be free. This column is dedicated to all our Veterans. It will use articles taken from past Oroville Mercury Registers. Many of those mentioned in these stories came home. But as you will learn, many young Oroville men did not. They gave the ultimate sacrifice. If you or your group would like a speaker, Ted Grainger and I would be glad to speak about our memorial or if you have any articles that will help us please contact me at 533-8147.

OROVILLE MERCURY REGISTER December 24,1942

SOME GAVE ALL VALLEY MAN JOINS SUBMARINE FLEET

Roy Julian McBride, who saw action with the navy in the Gilbert and Marshall Islands raid and at Coral Sea, will soon see service with the U. S. Submarine Fleet. McBride has completed training at a Connecticut base and is ready for advanced duty aboard a submarine. He is the son of Mrs. Marie Calogrea McBride of Sacramento, formerly of Oroville and the grandson of Mrs. J. C. Etherton of Wyandotte. McBride and his mother are well known in this district. He enlisted in the Navy in 1936 and has served aboard destroyers and cruisers. He is a second class motor machinist's mate.

From Jim Lague. "I went to school with Roy at the Sacramento Junior College Technical Institute of Aeronautics in 1935 and wish to update Roy's service record. In 1936 Roy McBride left school at SJCTIA and took a job in Washington D C as a Motorcycle Messenger and also joined the Naval Reserve and when WWII began he found himself in the Navy. He served on the USS Chester in the areas mentioned and then applied for training in submarine duty, which he completed in 1942. He was sent back to the Pacific on the Submarine Guardfish. Later he was transferred to the Submarine Bonefish.  Lawrence Edge was Skipper of the Bonefish and was given permission to enter the shallow Toyama Bay in the Sea of Japan, where he sank a big ship but Japanese forces soon delivered depth-charges which fatally holed the famous Bonefish, and she was lost, with all hands, June 18, 1945. It was the next to the last submarine lost in the war. Roy McBride was single but had a girlfriend in Washington D. C.

Oroville Mercury February 15, 1945

TWO OROVIILLE MEN HELP GET SUPPLIES TO WAR AREA

An army bulletin lists two Oroville men as members of the 759th Railway Operating Battalion, Pfc. Raymond V. Wright, son of Mrs. M. D. Davenport, and Pvt. Louis A. Stavas. This unit operated in North Africa and Italy and played an important part in Eastern France. The bridges and building sections, the signal sections and track sections did much to reopen the railroads for movement of essential supplies north and northeast of Lyons. Lt. Gen. Devers wrote: "Supplies carried by your trains are now reaching the forward areas. You have the thanks and appreciation of each individual soldier."

P.L. DAVIS GOES UP ONE RANK IN ARMY

Private P. L. Davis son of Mr. Port Laraca Davis, Oroville, Calif, has been promoted to the rank of private first class at the Carlsbad Army Air Field, Carlsbad, New Mexico, site of the largest bombardier school in the world.

Stu's notes: Roy Julian McBride was one of the Bravest of the brave that walked the streets of 0roville. And I never even heard his name until two weeks ago. The submarine service was voluntary. What those men did underwater is unbelievable. We had about 152 submarines in WWII, 52 were lost most with all hands. Germany had about 780 submarines, 90% of them were sunk by Allied Forces. Thank you Jim Lague for this information on Roy. I hope we can find more. Jim was in the navy in 1945.

Ted Grainger was in WWII, Korea and Vietnam. Thank you Oroville Mercury for letting me get the stories out. My readers are responding wonderfully.