In 1942, U.S. Army has difficulty finding uniform to fit Backholm

From the archives of The Daily World

75 years ago

April 22, 1942

• Grays Harbor industries have salvaged nearly 300 tons of scrap metal for immediate use in war production, according to the first monthly report issued today by the Grays Harbor Industrial salvage committee.

Included were 27 tons of cast iron, 266 tons of steel and 709 pounds of brass.

• The nation’s first rationing of food by stamps will start May 5, the office of price administration announced today with the first stamp good for one pound of sugar during the period May 5 to May 16.

In an order setting forth details of the sugar rationing system, OPA disclosed that allotments to restaurants, hotels and the like would be cut 50 percent under the amount used last year, while bakers, confectioners, beverage bottlers and ice cream and dairy product producers would be limited to 70 percent of past use.

April 23, 1942

The stalwart frame of Eric Backholm, 240-pound Grays Harbor athlete, is nothing but a headache to his army supply sergeant.

Backholm, whose shoulders are so wide he has to squirm through barn doors, has been in the army two months and the supply sergeant hasn’t found a coat to fit him yet.

They sent east for an extra large coat but even the biggest one they could find was too tight for him so now the army has ordered one specially tailored for him — it’s expected to arrive in about eight weeks.

At the army camp, the Harbor giant is best known for his wrestling ability. He recently tossed, with becoming nonchalance, a nationally known professional bone crusher named Lopez.

50 years ago

April 22, 1967

Elton Bennett, a silk screen artist from Hoquiam who has acquired an elevated professional standing among artists in the Pacific Northwest, recently sent some of his prints to be displayed in U.S. buildings around the world through a program initiated by the United States Information Agency.

In 1954, Bennett set out to interpret the mood and character of the Pacific Northwest in silk screen reproductions. Interest has been growing in his work ever since. At first he did Christmas cards, added stationery and it wasn’t long before he was doing larger prints.

He has a dealer that handles his work in New York City and now his work will be viewed around the world.

April 23, 1967

Sunday, no newspaper published

25 years ago

April 22, 1992

Justin Uhler, a senior at Aberdeen High School, will be presiding as Lt. Governor for the 45th annual Youth Legislature that started today and continues through Saturday at the state capitol in Olympia.

Other students appointed to student leadership include Rob Paylor of Aberdeen as assistant editor of the Capitol Capers and Holly Cihak of Hoquiam, as Senate Bureau Chief of the Lobbyist Corps.

They are among 45 Aberdeen and Hoquiam high school students participating in the event.

April 23, 1992

• With his black-rimmed glasses and mild manners, Aberdeen firefighter-paramedic George Stone may seem more like a Clark Kent than a Superman.

Chances are if you saw him on the street, he’d be just another friendly face in the crowd.

But his calm professional manner and gentle compassion during emergencies have made him a real-life superhero in the eyes of his friends and co-workers.

For those reasons and more, Stone, 45, has been named The Daily World’s Firefighter of the Year for 1992.

Stone became a volunteer firefighter in Montesano in 1967 , became the Harbor’s first paramedic when he completed training in 1976 and has been a firefighter/paramedic for the Aberdeen Fire Department since 1987.

• Two saxophone players and a string bass player from Aberdeen High School will complete this weekend in the State Solos Competition at Central Washington University in Washington.

Aberdeen High School band director Scott Pierson has announced that alto saxophone player senior Lesley Bylund and tenor sax player junior Nicole Haskey as well as senior Aaron Jenson, bass player, will travel to CWU this weekend after scoring high at the Southwest Washington competition earlier this year.

Compiled from the archives of The Daily World by Karen Barkstrom