Jennings Bennet, the son of “Mr. and Mrs. Jennings Fred Bennett” of Chehalis, was awarded the Silver Star medal by the U.S. Navy, The Chronicle reported on Thursday, April 29, 1943.
The official citation for the award was published in The Chronicle. The citation stated Bennett had been aboard a U.S. merchantman ship when it was sunk by an enemy raider.
“Although painfully wounded, Bennett heroically remained in his exposed position and continued to direct and assist in the loading of his gun until it was rendered useless. During the next horror-packed moments, when his companions were abandoning ship, he remained aboard tossing life preservers to men struggling in the water and assisting in lowering the port lifeboat,” the citation stated.
Bennett was wounded again by four splinters of shrapnel, one of which pierced his arm and pinned him to the deck.
“Bennett, by a superhuman effort, freed himself and rolled off into the sea. Miraculously escaping the fire of enemy machine guns directed at him, he was blown out of the water by the concussions of two torpedoes fired into his ship. Suffering acutely from innumerable wounds and faint from loss of blood, he swam to a life raft and climbed aboard before losing consciousness,” the citation stated.
The citation added Bennett’s courage and “indomitable fighting spirit” were in keeping with the traditions of the U.S. Navy.
According to The Chronicle, Bennett was born in Chehalis on Jan. 23, 1919 and lived on a farm in the area his whole life. He graduated from Chehalis Senior High School in 1936 and joined the U.S. Navy on July 11, 1939.
Bennett died in 2003.
Saturday, April 29, 1933
• Centralia was expected to honor President Franklin Roosevelt on Sunday, April 30. “Officially proclaimed as President’s Day, Centralia will join with other communities in the nation in honoring the man who promised the New Deal. From pulpit, from bandbox, from speakers’ platforms and across dinner tables will echo a tribute from the American people,” The Chronicle reported. Centralia’s celebration was scheduled to begin at 2:30 p.m. with a 30 minute concert performed by the Onalaska High School band. A short talk entitled “What Is President’s Day?” was to be delivered by Centralia Rotary Club President Ray Conrad, followed by a prayer for Roosevelt delivered by Edward Kimball of the Salvation Army at 3:05. Centralia Mayor T.M. Rowswell was to deliver an introduction for an address by Rev. Ward MacHenry of the First Presbyterian Church entitled “The President.” Several Centralia ministers were also reportedly planning on making mention of the celebration in their sermons that day.
• Nellie Thorne had reportedly died at the Toledo home of her mother May Loomis on the evening of Thursday, April 27, The Chronicle reported. She first came to Lewis County in 1876 at the age of 5. Thorne had been the wife of Frank Thorne, who had served for “many years” as the publisher of the Toledo Tidings. She was survived by her mother, husband and “several” grandchildren.
• Centralia High School Principal Paul Furgeson announced the new honor roll on April 29. The roll listed 79 students. The Chronicle listed the names of the students who received “at least four A’s each” as Bert Jones, Billy Jennings, Jane Thompson, Vincent Vogele, Dorothy Neely, Mary Ann Hawes, Edith Mauerman, Ruth Poore, Josephine Charlet, Beulah Packard, Yvonne Steelhammer, Helena Ticknor and Marion Oliver.
• Ermidah Coleman reportedly died on the morning of April 29 following a two week illness. Ermidah Coleman was born in Beaver Dam, Ohio on Dec. 10, 1862. She came with her husband, Dr. J.T. Coleman, to Chehalis in 1888 and lived there for the remainder of her life. She was survived by her husband and a daughter.
• Rev. Robert Cameron of Aberdeen was expected to deliver the sermon at the 11 a.m. service of the Westminster Presbyterian Church on April 30. The choir of the Centralia Presbyterian church was also expected to “give an hour of sacred music” at Westminster later that day at 7:30 p.m.
• J.T. Alexander was re-elected as president of the Fern Hill Cemetery Association during a meeting on the evening of Wednesday, April 26 in Chehalis. T.E. Gabel was re-elected secretary-treasurer during the meeting as well. The association’s affairs were shown to be in “good shape” by the treasurer’s report during the meeting.
Thursday, April 29, 1943
• The valedictorians and salutatorians of the Chehalis and Centralia high schools were announced on April 29. The Chehalis High School valedictorian was Irving Handlin and the salutatorian was Robert Quick. The Centralia High School valedictorian was Ruth Wasson while the salutatorian was Lelan McElfresh. Both valedictorians had perfect GPAs. Quick received a GPA of 3.85 while McElfresh received a 3.96 GPA. Handlin was the editor of the Chehalis High School newspaper “Crimson and Gray”’ while Quick was Associated Student Body president and a three year football letterman.
• Lieutenant O.C. Ferrell, Jr., a Naval officer from Centralia, was reportedly visiting Centralia friends. “War started for Lieut. Ferrell with Pearl Harbor, and following that he saw action in almost every one of the major battles that have marked the more than a year of conflict with Japan,” The Chronicle reported.
• Chehalis High School seniors put on their annual play on Wednesday, April 28, The Chronicle reported. “Playing before a full house, the annual dramatic production of the senior class of the Chehalis Senior High School was presented last evening in the junior high school auditorium,” The Chronicle reported. The students performed “Guess Again,” a three-act comedy written by Glenn Hughes, the head of the dramatics department at the University of Washington. Members of the class included Bob Quick and Marjorie Armstrong in the lead roles, as well as Raymond Langford, Joan Donahoe, June Williams, Kelly Hamilton, Carolyn Hitchcock, Peggy Snaza, Don Hartsell, Maruice Saubers, Barbara Langford, Bill Hagerman, Jean Strating, Margaret Schuster and Tom Venard. The crew consisted of Bob Hehn, Betty Frederickson, Merritt Middaugh, Dick Mitchell, Betty Hall, Milton Layton, and Lorraine Lemieux.
• Chehalis was only $37,567 short of having raised enough funds to build a motor torpedo boat, The Chronicle reported. According to George Thompson, the chair of the local committee responsible for raising bonds, residents had purchased $262,433 worth of bonds for the boat, which was to be named “The Chehalis Bearcat.”
• Leaders of the Allied forces in World War II were apparently considering opening a second front against Germany by invading the Balkans, the Associated Press reported in a story included in The Chronicle. Of the five Balkan states at the time, Greece, Albania and Yugoslavia had all been taken by the Axis powers while Bulgaria and Romania had become allies of the Axis. “Hitler knows that the appearance of an allied army would start a grassfire of rebellion sweeping through (Greece and Yugoslavia),” The AP reported.
• New officers had been installed positions leading local military organizations, The Chronicle reported. J.G. Blunt had been installed as the commander of the Lewis County Post while “Mrs. Al Unzelman” was installed as the president of the local auxiliary. It’s unclear based on The Chronicle’s reporting what the role of the organizations was, but they may have been related to the U.S.’s ongoing involvement in World War II.
• John Summers, 74, reportedly passed away on Tuesday, April 27 in a local nursing home after a long illness. Summers was born in New York state and had lived in both Chehalis and Centralia. He was survived by his wife, a daughter, a son, a brother, two sisters, five grandchildren and one great-grandchild.
Wednesday, April 29, 1953
• A picture of three Chehalis girls who participated in a combined performance by the bands of Chehalis High School and Kent’s high school on Friday, April 24 in the R.E. Bennett auditorium was included on the front page of The Chronicle. “These three misses have stellar roles for an outstanding band concert,” the caption stated. The students were Frances Atterton, Dorothy Kennicott and Marlene Machlied.
• Four Lewis County school districts were likely to have school levy votes in May and June, according to Lewis County Superintendent Florence Kennicott. A decision on whether to call a vote by the public was expected to be made by the Centralia School Board on the night of Friday, May 1 while Chehalis was expected to hold a vote on June 9 while Morton and Boistfort were scheduled for May 26.
• “Centralia juveniles” had reportedly stolen soda pop from the Spurgeon’s Beverage Company on the night of Tuesday, April 28 in what The Chronicle called a “Pop Spree.” The group of boys “drank what they wanted and then used the rest of the bottles to ‘dive bomb’ along two blocks of B street,” The Chronicle reported. Two of the boys had been apprehended while the remainder were to be “rounded up” on April 29. “Thefts at the beverage firm have been regular, and police are hoping the catch they made Tuesday night will halt the thievery,” The Chronicle reported. The boys had entered the building by crawling under a rear door and “after they had drunk what pop they wanted, some of the boys rode down the 900 and 1000 blocks of B street on their bicycles, dropping full bottles as they went along.” A woman living in the area apparently heard the bottles crashing and called the police. After the two boys were captured, they were given brooms to sweep up the “mess they had created.”
• Concerns about an object in the sky over the Twin Cities had been ameliorated after binoculars and telescopes revealed the object was a weather balloon drifting at a high altitude. “Visions of men from Mars flashed through the minds of many Twin City residents Tuesday morning, as they sighted a strange white object hovering in the western sky,” The Chronicle reported. The balloon was first seen around 10 a.m. on Tuesday, April 28.
• Orena Armstrong, a former Chehalis resident, was reportedly spending the week with her brother at his Chehalis home. Armstrong was reportedly preparing to move to Chicago, where she was to be executive secretary for an Episcopal social agency.
• A picture of Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom was featured in The Chronicle. The queen, who had become the monarch little over a year earlier, was wearing royal attire. The picture’s caption described her different articles of clothing and where they had come from.
• Lester Greear of Mossyrock was awarded “exceptional honors” at the Eastern Washington College of Education during Army ROTC Achievement Day, The Chronicle reported. Greear was reportedly one of the three top members of the ROTC rifle team and was one of the “outstanding cadets” in the close order drill.
Monday, April 29, 1963
• Temperatures in the Twin Cities reached what was at that point their highest levels for 1963 on April 29, reaching 72 degrees. “The rising mercury brought out sun lover galore - with garden tools, car washing and sun-tan oil,” The Chronicle reported. The previous high for the year had been set in February when temperatures reached 69 degrees.
• Kenneth Roberts Jr., an 18-year-old Chehalis resident, remained in good condition at Chehalis' St. Helen Hospital on April 29, The Chronicle reported. Roberts had been in a two car collision on the highway near Littell on the night of Saturday, April 27. Roberts was taken to the hospital after receiving a broken arm as well as cuts and bruises.
• Two drunk drivers were arrested over the weekend of April 27 and 28 by Lewis County law enforcement officers. One of the drivers was arrested by Lewis County Sheriff’s deputies south of Centralia while another driver was arrested by the State Patrol also south of Centralia.
• The 1963 Dairy Princess was expected to be crowned on Saturday, May 4. The competition for the title was composed of 10 “charming young ladies” from Lewis and Pacific counties. The contenders were Donna Kaech of Frances, Caroline Messenger of Centralia, Carol Boone of Toledo, Agnes Anderson of Chehalis, Karyl Wildhaber of Raymond, Sandra Hampson of Chehalis, Bessie Black of Chehalis, Vicki Kay Wilson of Curtis, Bettie Webster of Rochester and Karen Fischer of Chehalis.
• Cora Carvall was reported to have died at the age of 75 in her Centralia home on Friday, April 26. A Centralia resident for the previous 50 years, Carvall was born on Nov. 28, 1887 in Roosevelt, Minnesota. She was survived by her husband, a son, a brother and three grandchildren.
• John McComb, 88, died in a local hospital on Saturday, April 27, The Chronicle reported. A Centralia resident for the previous 35 years, McComb was born on June 24, 1874 in Toronto, Canada. He was survived by a niece in Bremerton.
• An adult and three teenagers were arrested on the early morning of Sunday, April 28 by Pe Ell Marshal Dale Fluke, The Chronicle reported. Ronald Hunt, 22, of Canada was arrested for contributing to the delinquency of minors and released on $50 bail. Patrick Challender of Centralia and Gary Ross and Dwight Rose, both of Pe Ell, were arrested for underage drinking. All three were 19 years old and were released on $50 bail.
