75 years ago

February 1, 1943

The prompt and generous way in which Aberdeen, Hoquiam and Cosmopolis citizens responded to the plea for tin cans to fill a car for shipment to a San Francisco detinning plant today won them the praises of Grays Harbor salvage chiefs.

“Grays Harbor citizens and school children came through just as they did when the call was issued for scrap iron several months ago,” Salvage chairman Edwin Skrondal said today.

Saturday citizens loaded the truck at Victory Square. The pile weighed approximately five tons, bringing the total to 16 tons, including the large amount of cans brought to schools by children earlier in the week.

February 2, 1943

Appearing in “The Spirit of Annapolis,” shown this week at Warner Brothers’ theater, was Cadet Olney Bryant, a graduate of Hoquiam High School. For those who know Cadet Bryant, he was on the extreme right in the first row of the naval academy chorus which opened and closed the feature.

50 years ago

February 1, 1968

The design plans and location map for Hoquiam’s proposed new Sixth Street bridge have been submitted to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for approval, Mayor Rolland Youmans reported this morning.

The long-awaited new span will be of the vertical lift variety, and Youmans explained that “what the engineers mean by ‘vertical lift’ is that the center section of the new bridge will lift straight up horizontally, rather than opening at a tilt like Aberdeen’s Chehalis River Bridge.

February 2, 1968

A second U.S. effort at Panmunjom to persuade North Korea to free the USS Pueblo and her 83 crewmen has failed, President Johnson disclosed today.

He made the report at a news conference but did not give the date of the meeting or other details.

The president did say, however, that he frankly was not hopeful of getting the men back any time soon.

25 years ago

February 1, 1993

The youthful Clintons don’t look as glamorous up close and personal, according to two Grays Harbor teen-agers who should know.

President Clinton looked tired with big bags under his eyes. And Hillary Clinton has ‘fat legs,’” reported Ryan Niemi, 15, of Aberdeen.

But Ryan and his cousin, Joe Bush, 13, of Elma agree that first daughter, Chelsea — now sporting braces — is OK.

The two boys had some of the best seats in the house during the inauguration and at festivities surrounding it. That’s one of the bonuses of having a grandpa — Bob Bush — who’s a Medal of Honor winner.

Over the years, Bob and his wife, Wanda, have brought along their children — and now grandchildren — to the inauguration festivities.

When he was 19 during World War II, Bob Bush was a Marine medical corpsman for the Navy in Okinawa. He risked his life to save a wounded lieutenant.

The longtime Harbor area businessman lost an eye and still carries 19 pieces of shrapnel in his body from that day.

“In 70 days, 310,000 people died,” Bush recalls. “Of those, 12,800 were Americans. I feel I’m a custodian of the medal for those who didn’t come home.” ‘

February 2, 1993

A “highly suspicious” fire early this morning gutted an apartment building on West Third Street in Aberdeen and gave three firefighters a close call.

The building had been “red tagged” last month after an electrical inspection and all but one tenant in the three-unit building had moved out.

Firefighters George Stone, Bill Mayne and Brian Swanson were trapped behind a wall of fire for about 10 minutes before another firefighter beat down the flames long enough for them to escape.

Swanson called the incident “scary, not so much while you were there, but when you got out of it.”

Compiled from the archives of The Daily World by Karen Barkstrom