June 7, 2013

Oroville Mercury Register
June 15, 1942
Keep the Flag Flying! “We can, we will, we must.” - President Roosevelt.
Never before in all our glorious history was our flag in such dire peril as it is their Flag Day, 1942. Nor was there ever a time when the Stars and Stripes flew so proudly over so many battle fronts in all the far corners of the world… more than ever, it is a symbol to millions of people in lands that tremble under the tread of the oppressor’s heel that freedom is still worth fighting for…worth dying for…worth paying for. True, all of us cannot take up arms in defense of the freedom for which “old Glory” stands, but we can all rally around the Flag and help to buy the guns, tanks, and planes our fighting men must have to win. We can all buy War Bonds and Stamps to the limit of our powers…one dime out of every dollar invested in War Bonds for freedom, for Victory! U. S. Treasury Dept. Stu-President Roosevelt did die for this Country.

Oroville Mercury Register
July 25, 1945
Baby Shoes Bring Luck to Dolan and His Men in Fall Over Cliff
A pair of tiny baby shoes seem to have brought luck again to Lt. Bill Dolan of the US Army Air Corps. When his B-29 takes off, Pilot Dolan sees that hanging near his seat is his good luck token, the first shoes worn by his little, Ann Marie. Recently, while coming in for a landing in the Marianas Islands, the brakes of the Oroville man’s plane gave way and it plunged over a cliff. Four of the crew were injured, none seriously. Dolan received a few bruises and cuts and a dislocated thumb, causing a stay in the hospital for five days. While he was in the hospital his crew salvaged the shoes and took them to him. He has carried them ever since going overseas last January. Flying twenty-five missions this was his first crash and the men feel they were lucky that it did not result in more serious causalities. Another narrow escape he had occurred during a raid over Osaka when a huge arsenal was apparently blown up. His plane was jolted from the 7000 foot level to the 12,000 foot level by the force of the blast it was said.

Stu- I’m pretty sure Lt. Bill Dolan is retired Butte County Supervisor Jane Dolan’s father. I hope the family still has those Lucky Baby Shoes.

Oroville Mercury Register
July 25, 1945
Don Sparlin Spends Leave In “Hoosegow”
Don Sparlin, radioman 2/c, had a few hours leave while he was in Panama. Starting out to see what Panama looked like, he ran across a man beating up a woman. Mixing in the family fight, he wrote to his father, that, as a result, he spent the five hours of his leave in the “hoosegow” and seeing the part of the town that came to him instead of going sightseeing. Sparlin has been transferred from the Pacific area to the Atlantic. He is on a transport ship bringing troops from La Havre to Newport News. He was in the first, landing on Luzon on a liberty ship that accounted for five Japanese dive bombers. He is the son of Frank Sparlin and at one time worked for the Mercury, selling more papers on the street than any other boy of his time.

Stu’s Notes:
As I write this, the news on T.V. shows more Admirals and Generals in one spot, setting before Congress, than I have ever seen. They have been called on “The Carpet” so to speak, to say why they as leaders of our Military have failed to protect Women in our Armed forces from Sexual “Abuse, they knew it was happening, seems they did nothing. Will anyone be fired? Probably no one from the Top will get fired.

“Yesterday, when I was young”, oops, (Stu likes Roy Clark),
I get that in my head more and more. I meant yesterday, June 6, was the anniversary of D-Day. The battle of the liberation of Europe had begun. June 6, 1944. If General Eisenhower hadn’t of made that day to go, the invasion would have been delayed maybe for months. The weather and tides had to be just right. If it had been delayed an untold number of men, women and children would have perished in the gas chambers. They had to be stopped. A few from Butte County died on that Day so long ago.

Flag Day, it used to be a big Celebration in Oroville. One such day June 1942 The Oroville Elks Lodge held their annual Flag Day Observance at Mitchell Field. Chairman of the event was Don Hobbie, Miss Eileen McDonnell sang “God Bless America” with Miss Elizabeth Humphrey as Accompanist, a parade with forty organized groups put together by Chairman Paul West, assisted by Roy Nelson, Roy McCune and Tom Reaves. Company K of the State Guard staged a Drill. Quite a Celebration, but there was a War on, oh seems like we’ve been at War for a long time now. FLAG CELEBRATION, Friday, June 14, 2013, 10:00 am, Flag Raising at the Liberty Pole, Corner of Montgomery & Huntoon followed by a No-Host Luncheon, Bird Street Café – International Room, Myers Street, Downtown Oroville. Sponsored by: Oroville Heritage Council, “Loyal and Patriotic Order of Liberty Pole” Butte County Historical Society, Oroville Downtown Business Association, City of Oroville, Oroville Area Chamber of Commerce. The History of the Liberty Pole by Jim Lenhoff will be in my “Oroville of Long Ago” Column on June 13th. What is a man to do if he sees a man beating a woman? But it can get you in trouble.