June 27, 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. Bill Connelly and I are Co Chair-men of the Oroville
Veterans Memorial Committee. For more information call 533-8147.
Oroville Mercury August 1943 and some time during the
war.
"SOME GAVE ALL"
GIVES LIFE KERNICK SMITH KILLED IN WAR
First Lt. Kernick
Smith, 34, of the Army Air Forces, a former Oroville resident, was
killed in action in the South Pacific, July 18, according to information
received here by Mrs.
Sarah Cook and
Mr. and Mrs. Jay Cook of
Thermalito. Word of Smith's death, presumably when a plane on which he was on a
reconnaissance mission was shot down, was received from the war department
IN WAR ZONE 8 MONTHS
He enlisted shortly after Pearl Harbor, trained in Miami and
at Harrisburg, Pa. And spent a month in Washington, D. C., before going into
action. He had been in the South Pacific eight months. His parents,
Mr. and Mrs. Claude Smith, died
when he was five years of age, and he was reared by Mrs.
Sara Cook of Thermalito and her husband, the late
I. H. Cook. He lived in Paradise
and Oroville until his third year in high school there. Then he spent a year at
Staunton Millitary Academy at Staunton, VA.
GRADUATE OF STANFORD
At Oroville high school he played football and was a member
of the track team. After attending Staunton he entered Stanford University, from
which he was graduated as a geologist in 1933. He was an engineer for the Bulolo
Dredging Co. in Brazil and was in Alaska three times. Four years ago he bought a
900-acre ranch at Selma and began raising purebred Angus cattle. Lt. Smith had
visited in Oroville every few months before his enlistment. He was a member of
Oroville Lodge No. 104, Free and Accepted Masons.
CAPT. GILBERT COMMISSIONED IN HONOLULU CAPT
George Gilbert, Jr.
recently received his promotion from the ranks of first Lieutenant to that of
captain in the Army Signal Corps at Honolulu. Gilbert enlisted in the service as
a private three years ago. He later graduated from Ga., where he studied radio
and wire communications. He received his commission as second lieutenant at Fort
Monmouth, N. J. and his first Lieutenant's rating at San Luis Obispo after he
had completed four months maneuvers on the Mojave Desert. Gilbert’s wife, the
former
Maxine Wanson, daughter of
Mr. and Mrs. Charles Wanson of Oroville, is employed in the local office
of the district attorney. She is making her home with her parents during her
husband's military service. The captain is the son of Mr. and Mrs.
George Gilbert of Thermalito.
MRS. HUSTON'S GRANDSON STATIONED IN HAWAII
Private Jimmie L.
Keyes, a graduate of Oroville High School in 1942, entered the
service Feb. 16, 1943 and was sent to Walters, Texas for training and is now
stationed in the Hawaiian Islands. He is the son of
Mr. I. Zander of Oakland. Zander was a sergeant in World War 1. Keyes is
the grandson Mrs. Carrie Huston,
W-A Street and made his home with her prior to his military service. He was
formerly employed at a local grocery store.
Stu's notes:
Lt. Kernick Smith, young man grew
up in Thermalito, walked the same streets I did as a boy, yet I never knew of of him until recently. Why? Why could I
not go to a memorial for him? A hero that gave his life us, as the Mercury headlines say. Well, he will not be
forgotten in Oroville ever again. Does anybody know anything about this man? Al
I have is this newspaper clipping which came from a scrapbook that had been
given to George Gilbert. His wife,
Maxine let me copy it. More on Capt George Gilbert later. Thank you Maxine.