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March 26, 2004
Oroville Mercury Register April 25, 28 & 30 1945

LAWRENCE PHILLIPS RECEIVES HIS WINGS
Altus (Okla.) Army Air Field—Lawrence C. Phillips, 19, (pictured here) son of Mr. and Mrs. James S. Phillips, of Veatch St. has been commissioned a second lieutenant and has received the silver pilot’s wings of the Army Air Forces at the Altus (Okla.) Army Air Field. From this advanced 2-engine pilot training school of the AAF Central Flying Training Command, with head quarters at Randolph Field, Tex, he will go on to further advanced training at a multi-engined bomber or fighter school or to the Central Instructors’ School at Randolph Field. After completing his advanced course he will be ready to carry the air attack over enemy territory, or return as an instructor to an advanced school.

MIKE AICEGA BACK AFTER IOW JIMA
Mr. and Mrs. Martin Aicega of Oroville have received word from their son, Cpl. Mike Aicega, USMC, that he is safe and in this country. This is the first news of their son that they have received in ten weeks, the last letter coming about two weeks before the invasion of Iwo Jima in which Cpl. Aicega took part. The news arrived in a telegram which Aicega sent from San Diego Thursday morning, and it was followed by a phone call from him from the same city early in the evening. He said he was going to try to contact his two brothers, John and Martin, who are also in San Diego, but would be back in Oroville sometime this week. Cpl. Aicega is a member of the famous Fourth Marine Division and has been overseas for twenty-six months.

LOCAL MAN UNDERGOES STRAFING TO CARE FOR WOUNDED
Cpl. Earl J. Pully is a member of the 316th Medical Battalion, which has been faced with intermittent German artillery fire and strafing from enemy planes for more than three months as it operates close to the Po Valley along the Fifth Army front in Italy. The medics’ main job is to evacuate wounded doughboys from the field of battle. They also are responsible for hospitalization in cases which are not serious and for supervision of sanitation and food handling for 15,000 men. As the Gothic Line was breached, a single company of the 316th handled more than 220 casualties in one day. Almost five hours was required to carry each litter case to an aid station during a 48-hour period in the fighting for Mt. Albano. Volunteers drove into no man’s land under intense fire when litter squads, exhausted by the necessity to make long, circuitous trips, were virtually unable to continue their work. Mrs. Pulley, the sergeant’s wife, lives on Route 3.

Sgt. Deborah Jean Shaner, Iraq 2004
We got a call from Debbie on her cell phone, March 21st. She was on a mission to Kuwait. It was 8:30 PM here and 7:30AM there. They are on their month of missions. In April they should be working in there camp somewhere. Home in May. She casually says good bye, of course we exchange I love you. She says their trucks are headed for Iraq. (Almost like they were driving to L. A.). She says, “ Dad see you soon”. Well it’s not L. A. but it’s a job our service men and women are doing in many far-flung places. There lives on the line every day, as they have in all our wars. So be proud of them all and when you see one, young or old, say thank you and God Bless them.

Stu’s Notes: I received a call about last weeks article from Veterans Memorial Park Committee member, Jack Brereton. He told me that Frank C. Kroepelin was his uncle. He will try to get more of his story. Jack has been our committee from the very start, almost 3 years, he has been indispensable. He also helped tremendously on the Dam Memorial. I’m finding out that Oroville had a lot of men fighting on Iwo Jima.