75 years ago
Feb. 2, 1942
With the unforgettable thrill of training the sights of an anti-aircraft gun on three Japanese warplanes and the sight of the winged invaders falling in flames reminding him that he had a ring-side seat in the Pearl Harbor attack of December 7, Seaman First Class Don Seeley, 22-year-old Aberdeen youth, is spending a few days at home with his parents, Mr. and Mrs. H.C. Seeley.
His story, even when stripped by the restrictions of military censorship, reads like a chapter from the most exciting war novel.
Feb. 3, 1942
A shrieking crescendo of sound, heard throughout Aberdeen and far beyond the city limits in every direction today proved that Aberdeen’s eight steam sirens, its fire sirens and its mill whistles could almost “wake the dead” in event of an air raid.
The gigantic test, blown at 2 o’clock today, was pronounced “universally successful” by Mayor Walt T. Foelkner. A check showed that the great cacophony was heard clear to the west boundary of Hoquiam, in Cosmopolis and far up the Wishkah river.
50 years ago
Feb. 2, 1967
Dr. Timothy Leary will carry his campaign for freer access and use of LSD into debate tonight at the University of Oregon with a doctor who wants to control use of the hallucinating drug.
Leary, who says anyone who wishes to change his own consciousness should be allowed access to the drug, spoke before a capacity audience of 1,500 persons Wednesday in the Portland State College Center ballroom. “Turn on, tune in, drop out,” he told the crowd, mostly young people.
He is expected to speak Friday at the University of Washington and at Western Washington State College.
Feb. 3, 1967
• The seats are in position and bolted to the risers, the King of Siam found Sunday when he entered his Driftwood Palace at 1407 B. St., Hoquiam.
Next state of preparing for the Feb. 17 opening of “The King and I” is to install the lights.
Other remodeling projects will take months and maybe years, but patrons (150 of them) can be comfortable in the auditorium now.
• The old F.G. Foster Co. building, that has dominated the east side of Simpson Avenue’s 800 block since its construction in 1907, is being bulldozed. Fosters had moved their hardware business to the Port Dock area in June of last year.
• Gayle Neet, operator of Harbor Helicopters, is spending this week in Baja California flying a helicopter over vast herds of grey whales in the interest of medical science.
Neet’s particular task is to fly the whirlybird over the herd and carry a marksman into position so that a tranquilizer may be shot into one of the sea-going mammals. Then a harpoon with an identifying flag is shot into the monster.
After the whale is tranquilized, scientists and a team of specialists from Virginia Mason Clinic in Seattle, attach instruments to its body in order to study its breathing, heartbeat and other bodily functions.
25 years ago
Feb. 2, 1992
Ferocious winds at the Westport waste water treatment plant flipped a young water department worker 20 feet in the air and slammed him down on his back, breaking his arm and pelvis Friday afternoon.
Jesse Shedd, 24, says he was standing on top of a liner on an unused settling pond when a gust of wind billowed under the liner and threw him about 20 feet in the air. The liner is about the thickness of a tire.
Feb. 3, 1992
Eight Aberdeen High School music students have been selected to perform at the All-State Musicfest Feb. 16, at the University of Puget Sound.
The AHS contingent includes five choir students — the most ever, according to their director, Pat Wilhelms.
“I’m really thrilled. I’ve never had five before and never had this many boys,” she said.
The choir students are Brian Atkinson, Ian Dorsch, Jeffrey Moses, Peggy Polinder and Janet Welliver.
In addition, two AHS orchestra members — Aaron Jensen and Anna Nelson — and band member Carrie Longborg will be participating in the Musicfest.
Compiled from the archives of The Daily World by Karen Barkstrom
