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December 12, 2008

Oroville Mercury Register
June 18, 1945
Lt. Smallwood Dies In Crash of Plane
2nd Lt. W. C. Smallwood, 26, AAF, has been reported killed in a plane crash that occurred last Monday near Shawnee, Oklahoma. Lt. Smallwood was the son of Mrs. Smallwood Phipps of Fair Oaks, formerly of Oroville, and the husband of Mrs. Beverly Smallwood of Shawnee.

Wounded In Action
Pvt. Sam J. Brown, husband of Mrs. Gertrude P. Brown of Gridley has been reported wounded in action in the Pacific regions, according to an official announcement of the Office of War Information.

Finds War Is A Tough Life
Cpl. Terry D. Smith is home on furlough from Forney General Hospital at Palm Springs, where he has been receiving hospital care since January for wounds received at Tinnian where he was a gunner. He with three others were the only survivors of this crew of twelve. He entered the service in the spring of 1941 and took his training at Camp Roberts then to the Marshall Islands, where he saw action at Kwadjeline then on to Siapan and Tinnian. Cpl. Smith is the son of Mrs. E. Jackson of Forbestown, where he attended school. Before entering service he was employed at Bunker Hill and other mines near La Porte. He is a nephew of Mr. and Mrs. Frank Reilly with whom he has made his home since finishing school. He is entitled to wear six gold bands, a pre-Pearl Harbor and three bronze stars.

Johnson Encounters Dust Storm In Mid Pacific
Mrs. W. W. Scott has received from her son-in-law, T/4 Howard Johnson, an account of his regiment’s battle record in the Luzon campaign. His regiment executed a daring maneuver in their advance to the Zig Zag Pass and destroyed the greater part of the opposing Japanese regiment ordered to defend the pass to the death. His regiment then advanced through the Bataan peninsula and assisted in liberation of that province. They continued a ruthless offensive through highly organized and desperately defended Japanese positions in mountainous country. Each individual Japanese soldier had to be routed out of his cave and killed. The American losses were relatively light but the Americans killed over 600 Japanese. The 149th regiment is a part of the 38th Division, the avengers of Bataan. Sgt. Johnson went to a rest camp for a period after the campaign. Since then he has been engaged in further fighting on Luzon. Sgt. Johnson has been overseas a year and a half. He was in New Guinea for some time before the landing on Luzon. On his trip to New Guinea his ship ran into a dust storm in mid-Pacific. It was shrouded in thick choking volcanic dust thought to be from some island. He sent a sample of the dust from the ship to his wife, Mrs. Wilma Johnson of Sacramento as a memento.

Bacon Brings High Bid At Bond Auction
With a slab of bacon drawing a bid of $5000 while a 50-foot lot worth 100 times as much, got a bid of only $2000., bonds to a total of $33,431 were sold at the auction held Saturday evening. The bidding was spirited for the most part, but Mayor Sedgwick, who bid $50 on a purebred puppy, donated by Henry B. Everett, ran into a slump and was astonished when the auctioneer’s helper dumped the 15 pounds of pedigree into his arms. “What’ll I feed ‘im?” the mayor asked. Walter Fish considered himself lucky to get away with a ham for $3100 in bonds. Gordon Hill, who got the slab of bacon, paid out $100 to get a gallon of olive oil. An electric iron went o Lloyd Extell for $1000. Other big bids were those of Roy Guault of $2000 for three quarts of whiskey and a carton of cigarettes, Clifford Rhine of $1900 for two fifths of Old Taylor whiskey, Earl Kelly of $200 for a case of tomatoes, and W. B. Henry of $800 for a gallon of olive oil. A $300,000 subscription form the First National Bank of Oroville raised the over-all total past $1,022,326. Of this amount only $250,986.25 is in E bond subscriptions- 45% of the district’s E bond allotment of $555,000.

Stu’s Notes; Clifford Rhine lost his son Arlin on Iwo Jima just a few months before this Bond sale. This is all we know of Lt. Smallwood, we do know if he died for his Country. We will try to find out if he was from Butte County. I have found very few stories of wounded Butte County Soldiers, I hope they both recovered.
The Oroville Veterans Memorial Park Committee again will have an entry in the Light Parade tomorrow night, thanks to Bill Fox and his committee.