75 years ago
March 17, 1943
Lem Elway, paratrooper, arrived last night from Fort Benning, Ga., to spend a 15-day furlough with his parents on Simpson Avenue in Hoquiam.
Elway earned his silver wings at Fort Benning on Christmas Eve.
“It’s an exciting branch of the service, all right,” Elway agreed. “We have to jump five times to qualify for our wings. The first jump is from 1,500 feet, the second two from 1,200 feet and the last one 800 feet. On that last one you don’t have much time to think. In combat, we’ll be jumping from 400 feet.”
March 18, 1943
Fire destroyed a wartime magnesium plant on the port area last night with the flashing brilliance of a mammoth pyrotechnic display.
Above the flames of the burning plant, intensely brilliant explosive puffs went skyward in a spectacle that was clearly visible for several miles.
Workers in the building escaped without injury, although Fire Chief Charles Borum said many of them carried magnesium filled containers from the ground floor despite the danger.
50 years ago
March 17, 1968
Sunday, no newspaper published
March 18, 1968
LeRoy Beck, 43, of Grayland, veteran Twin Harbors area fisherman, was resting comfortably at the Willapa Harbor Hospital in South Bend last night, having cheated death by fire, drowning and asphyxiation in a dramatic series of incidents during a $40,000 boat fire on Willapa Bay Sunday.
Beck, with his son, Pete, 20, were aboard the Adventuress, a 50-foot fishing boat, tending to crab pots about two miles from the Tokeland boat basin when the vessel erupted in flames. Pete jumped in the inflated rubber life raft but it drifted away from the burning vessel before LeRoy could climb aboard.
After jumping into the water and paddling for about 15 minutes to reach the raft, the elder Beck was having trouble breathing due to his chronic asthma. The Coast Guard arrived, called for a resuscitator from the North Cove fire district to meet them at the Tokeland dock and Beck was placed in the Coast Guard’s carry-all and rushed to the hospital.
25 years ago
March 17, 1993
Reaction was both swift and scathing yesterday to the news that the Union Pacific Railroad is considering ending rail service to Grays Harbor and wants out of its agreement to participate in the Deeper Draft channel improvement project.
“I am shocked and outraged,” said Ben Watson, a bar pilot who must navigate ships through the narrow opening of the railroad bridge across the Chehalis River at Aberdeen.
Work to replace the existing bridge, which dates back to 1910, was to begin this summer as part of the $64 million Deeper Draft project. The railroad in 1990 agreed to fund the necessary rail improvements to accommodate the new bridge, which is being brought in from Little Rock, Ark.
Union Pacific officials report it has lost 54 percent of its business on Grays Harbor, mostly as a result of the pulp and paper mill closures.
March 18, 1993
A Denver toxicologist testified Wednesday that emissions from Weyerhaeuser’s pulp mill settling ponds have caused cancer and respiratory problems for South Aberdeen residents.
“I think that there have been serious health effects as a result of exposure to materials which have come from the ponds,” said Dr. Daniel Teitelbaum, a star witness in a suit against Weyerhaeuser.
The company’s attorneys characterized Dr. Teitalbaum as a professional plantiffs’ witness with far-fetched theories about how cancer is caused.
This is the sixth week of a trial that is slated to run well into April. The plaintiffs’ lawyers, David Edwards and Paul Stritmatter, plan to wind up their case next week.
Compiled from the archives of The Daily World by Karen Barkstrom
