75 years ago

February 19, 1944

Major Ben K. Weatherwax, Harbor Marine officer who has been in the South Pacific for the past 18 months and who took part in the American capture of Tarawa, arrived home last night for a leave with his family.

After having served 10 months in the Hawaiian area prior to and following Pearl Harbor, Major Weatherwax visited home in May, 1942, then went to New Zealand for more than a year after which he served in the active combat unit, taking part in the Tarawa attack among others.

During the past 18 months, he has flown more than 20,000 miles over Pacific areas.

February 20, 1944

Sunday, no newspaper published

50 years ago

February 19, 1969

Grays Harbor College has seven occupational programs leading to associated degrees or certificate: Business Administration, Data Processing, Electronic Technology, Fisheries Management Technology, Mid-management, practical nursing and Library Science.

In addition, trade apprenticeship classes are offered in night school for auto mechanics, carpentry, electrical service, machinist, sheet metal, plumbing and machinist welding

February 20, 1969

There are 20,282 persons living in Aberdeen, data from the Grays Harbor Regional Planning Office’s recent “mini-census” show.

The estimate is contained in the “population element” section of a comprehensive development plan for the city soon to be released by the planning office.

The state gave Aberdeen credit for a population of 19,300 in its last estimate published in April. The signs at the city limits list population at 19,250. The new estimate, if the state accepts it, will make the city eligible for an additional $41,000 a year in state aid money.

25 years ago

February 19, 1994

The show must go on!

Aberdeen High School’s 20 Goldenaires learned than anew this week as they prepared to perform at LogJam.

When the musicians and their director Pat Wilhelms arrived at the highbrow event in Seattle, they opened up the luggage compartment of the bus to discover a leak had rendered their sound equipment soggy.

“We almost cried,” admitted Goldenaires president Megan O’Connor, a senior.

“But the kids adjusted to it. We sang without it and it wasn’t a big deal,” said Wilhelms.

The director had broad praise for her students. “I’m so proud of them. Not only are they talented musicians, they’re just good kids. They make me proud.”

The students sang two 15-minute sets of jazz in the lobby of Intiman Theatre during the cocktail hour before the gala fund-raiser at the Seattle Center Tuesday. Then they impressed the audience with a 18th century madrigal, “Fa Una Canzone,” in Italian and English.

February 20, 1994

A.L. “Jack” Frost is ready to storm the beaches of Normandy for the second time this century.

Frost, 72, the mayor of tranquil Montesano, was a brash and decorated private of the 1st Infantry, 16th Division on D-Day, June 6, 1944.

So far, he’s reportedly the only Harborite returning to England and France this summer to mark the 50th anniversary of Operation Overlord, the massive Allied invasion of Europe.

His wife, Margaret, bought him a five-day travel package through a veterans organization. “I just thought he should be with his buddies,” she says.

Frost, like many other vets from that era, would rather not dwell on the horrors of war.

By the end of the war, Frost would earn four Purple Heart medals and the Bronze Star.

Compiled from the archives of The Daily World by Karen Barkstrom