November 24, 2006

More from “Recollections From Army Days” by Robert C. Brooks
Maneuvers did help us to coordinate with other units, such as Artillery, Tanks, and Engineers. When winter set in we went to Camp Barkley in Texas. More training there in the sage brush and hills, and some visits around the country to Abilene and other towns nearby. People were very hospitable. Some opened their homes for soldiers on pass who needed a place to stay overnight. There was a rodeo at Stampford, nearby. Our Mortar Platoon Sergeant, Obert Shelton, had been in the horse cavalry; he entered the bull riding. He got thrown pretty quickly. Said he had always wanted to try it, anyway. He played the guitar and sang songs like” The Yellow Rose of Texas”. We had several musicians in our company. Besides Shelton, there was Lexie Baker, from Pound, Virginia, who played fiddle tunes, and Bernard Brusatte, from Joliet, Illinois, who played the accordion. Another young fellow, who’s name I now forget, picked up Lexie’s fiddle one time, and played part of Paganini concerto!

Stu’s Notes and facts from reading articles in the Sacramento Bee, contributed to by the Los Angeles and New York Times
I have come to these conclusions:
Recently Iwo Jima has been in the news. A movie by Clint Eastwood, “Flags of Our Fathers”, is now showing. There has always been controversy over the famous picture taken on Iwo. Was it staged or not? You could say yes or no and probably be right. Although I don’t think Joe Rosenthal had anything to do about that , he just took a great picture. Regardless, this picture taken February 23, 1945, made heroes of some and probably left heroes, not to be honored but that happened through out the war. That is why I consider all that went to be Heroes. People you know or have known those who could have done heroic things that is known only by them and their buddies. Many go to their graves never telling their story. Joe Rosenthal, an Associated Press Photographer, took the picture. It was surely the second Flag to be raised that day. Some officer’s called for a bigger Flag that could be seen by all the fighting men on the Island. Joe made his way to the top of Mt. Suribachi and taken time to set up his camera for the right shot, he almost missed it. Later when the film was developed it was realized that it was a picture that would galvanized all Americans, it helped sell 200 million in war bonds. The men in the picture, five marines and a Navy Corpsman, were made instant heroes, like it or not. Three died days later, fighting on that little Island. The other three were taken home to promote War Bonds. The bonds with their buddies left to fight and some died were broken. I think the guilt feelings those three had must have been terrible. But it was nothing they did on their own – in the military you go where you are told. Four Oroville area men died on that far off Island along with 6,800 others. I have written about Joe Rosenthal before. He just died in August 2006 at 94 years old. He also was a hero who tried to serve his country by enlisting after Pearl Harbor but his vision was not good so he took pictures, which was very necessary for the war effort. He shot the enemy with a camera. I think it is pretty dangerous work.

Just in from our Web master, Daryl, always looking for those we must honor on our Memorial. He finds them. Earnest M. Young, PFC Marine Corps, 1st Marine Division, Born September 11, 1933, KIA July 23, 1953, Korea. Do you know anything about this man? This is all we know. We have found over 148 young people who died for our country from here, born hear, or have died here in, the Oroville area. Our guide lines for this are very liberal, as I feel all should be honored.