75 years ago

April 23, 1944

Sunday, no newspaper published

April 24, 1944

“Turk was like Pearl Harbor in reverse,” Chief Petty Officer Clayton Church, on leave after more than two years on an aircraft carrier in the South Pacific, recalled today.

“The (enemy) had gotten some of their planes off the ground, but we nailed those and knocked out the others still on the field. About 200 in all. We lost so few planes that it hardly counted,” he said.

“We had hoped to find the fleet at Turk but there were only cargo ships and cruisers.”

Church is an aviation machinist’s mate with the responsibility of seeing that the dive bombers in his charge are in perfect condition when they are needed.

50 years ago

April 23, 1969

• Army Spec. 4 Robert (Pete) Irwin of Hoquiam is home on leave, while his brother Gary, 20, is being treated at Madigan Hospital, Ft. Lewis, for wounds received in Vietnam action.

Gary Irwin, also a specialist 4, suffered wounds to his left leg and back during a mortar attack March 21. He was stationed at the Bong Son Airbase, and was a machine gunner on a helicopter of the 173rd Airborne Brigade. He has received two Purple Hearts and has been nominated for the Air Medal. He is a 1967 Hoquiam High School graduate.

Pete Irwin is spending a 21-day leave at home. He has been stationed at Ft. Campbell, Ky., and his next assignment will be at a missile base in Germany. This will be his second tour of duty in Germany, having spent 18 months there previously. He is a 1965 HHS graduate.

• Larry Villa won top honors in The Daily World’s Number One Carrier Contest, which recognized carriers’ abilities in route management, solicitation and delivery. Mike Rajcich and Mark Carpenter tied for second place.

April 24, 1969

Both of Hoquiam’s plywood mills — Olympic Plywood and Hoquiam Plywood — will be back in near-capacity production by next week.

Olympic Plywood went back to normal production as of Monday, according to President Robert Abts. The mill is running on two shifts with a total crew of 110 — about 85 per cent capacity.

Abts said the index on specialty products such as those put out by Olympia has recovered to $365 per thousand square feet.

Peter Majar, manager of Hoquiam Plywood, said that mill will be back at near-capacity production by next week, running with a crew of about 130.

25 years ago

April 23, 1994

Joe Krupa is a fisherman who has had his hook in just about every community betterment program in northern Pacific County over the last half century.

At 83, he’s so busy that he uses a blackboard to keep track of his weekly schedule. Cub Scouts, Kiwanis, salmon restoration projects — you name it, Joe does it.

“He’s the nicest man you’ll ever meet and a treasure to our community,” says former Pacific County auditor Bob Johnson. “He’s like a light in a dark room — he stands out.”

For lighting up a lot of lives in a lifetime of service, Joe Krupa is The Daily World’s 1994 Citizen of the year.

April 24, 1994

About 4,500 gallons of highly corrosive hydrochloric acid leaked through a split seam in an outdoor fiberglass storage tank at the Port of Willapa Harbor on Saturday morning.

Traffic was rerouted as a 2-mile stretch of Highway 101 was blocked for about four hours.

About 300 Raymond residents in three nearby neighborhoods were put on alert. They were instructed to stay inside with their windows and doors shut for two hours as officials assessed the danger.

By mid-afternoon, the potential danger to the community was considered over and employees were called it to help clean up around the Pronova Biopolymer Inc. plant.

Compiled from the archives of The Daily World by Karen Barkstrom.