75 years ago

November 18, 1944

Lady Luck has been kind to Donald H. Seeley, radarman second class, of Aberdeen.

Last July, Seeley survived the sinking of the U.S.S. Helena in the battle of Kula Gulf. After swimming more than an hour in the oily shark-infested waters he managed to find a life raft and was later rescued, still clutching his battle-stained copy of the Gideon Testament.

In October, he survived a second sinking when the U.S.S. St. Lo (formerly the carrier Midway) was lost in a battle near Leyte.

A graduate of Weatherwax high school in 1938, Seeley was employed on the Harbor and played baseball in the Industrial league here before enlisting.

50 years ago

November 18, 1969

Tickets are on sale for “The Odd Couple,” a Neil Simon written comedy, which opens Friday at the Driftwood Players’ Theater in Hoquiam

Ernest Ingram and John Wolfe play Oscar and Felix, the odd couple of the production.

25 years ago

November 18, 1994

After seven hours of steady filming along the Chehalis River, producers of “The Great American West” had what they wanted.

What they shot will become a minute and a half of the 38-minute movie.

In its fleeting moment of movie fame, Grays Harbor doesn’t even stand in for itself. In the movie, the Chehalis, near Montesano, becomes the Missouri River near St. Louis.

Early Thursday, producers had shot what would become the scenes at the end of Lewis and Clark’s expedition. They deliberately chose an early hour so they could have fog and bone-chilling cold at nearly Preacher’s Slough.

Acting “talents” played Lewis and Clark, but their crewmen were local guys — a mix of adults who crew for the GH Historical Seaport and students from Aberdeen’s Harbor High School who have been taking a boating class at the Seaport.

Even the tired looking Newfoundland dog in the prow of Lewis’ boat was a local. The dog, Crystal, belongs to Seaport board member Price Chenault.

Compiled from the archives of The Daily World by Karen Barkstrom