75 years ago

March 7, 1945

Mr. and Mrs. E.L. Robertson of Sumner Avenue in Aberdeen have received a telegram from the war department informing them of the death of their son, Cpl. Keith Robertson on a Japanese ship off the coast of the Philippines in September.

Cpl. Robertson had been a prisoner of the Japanese since the fall of Bataan. He was 22 years of age.

March 8, 1945

Sgt. Joe Robinson, former student of Elma schools and employe of the Saginaw and Clemons Logging companies, is a member of the famed 19th combat engineers regiment in Italy. He has been overseas for two years.

An article in the Stars and Stripes, the army’s newspaper, recently was devoted to the history and accomplishments of this regiment.

According to the article, the 19th had its first taste of things to come when the Japanese submarine shelled Santa Barbara, Calif., shortly after the United States entered the war. The regiment took up defensive positions then along the California coast against a possible invasion of the mainland. Home duty came to an end in August, 1942, when the outfit sailed for service in Ireland, England and Scotland, and prepared for the invasion of North Africa. The outfit went ashore in the early waves on the beaches near Oran and began its long and distinguished battle record. Since then the men have fought as infantry, built roads, railroads, bridges, airfields and concrete pillboxes, drained swamps, laid pipelines and operated quarries.

50 years ago

March 7, 1970

Saturday, no newspaper published

March 8, 1970

Grays Harbor’s Methuselah of the courthouse, O.M. Nelson, is 90 years old today.

Born in Wisconsin when Rutherford B. Hayes was president, Nelson has lived under the administration of 23 presidents and is believed to be the oldest attorney actively practicing law in the State of Washington.

In 1907 Nelson moved to Cosmopolis to work for Neil Cooney. Later he worked for W.H. Abel before heading to Olympia to take a bar examination. “I took the examination mostly for fun,” he said, “but I passed,” and eventually set up practice in an office on the present site of the post office.

Nelson recalls when he first came to Montesano, there were six saloons in town and that bar whisky to take home cost 25 cents a pint.

25 years ago

March 7, 1995

Orian DeBay, 69, a former Aberdeen fire chief who was honored as The Daily World’s Firefighter of the Year in 1994, died Monday afternoon at Evergreen Convalescent Center in Olympia.

DeBay, who served 30 years with the Aberdeen Fire Department, was remembered today as a strong but gentle man who devoted his life to the fire service.

“He really never retired,” said Fire Chief Steve Mitchell. “He always kept the fire service in his heart.”

“He reached out to people and he never turned anybody away,” added Battalion Chief Dennis Daniels.

March 8, 1995

An arson fire tore through a building in downtown Aberdeen early this morning, leaving the shaken owner of a beauty shop staring at the charred wood instead of split ends.

No one was inside the Final Phase beauty salon at 312 South L St. when firefighters arrived shortly after 2 a.m.

The building, owned by Marc Tomlinson, an Aberdeen dentist, sustained an estimated $40,000.

Debi Pieraccini, who owns the business, was at a loss this morning to think of anyone who may have wanted to burn the building.

“I don’t know,” she said, shaking her head and looking at the building with tears in her eyes.

Compiled from the archives of The Daily World by Karen Barkstrom