. . . War Events (3) . . .

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Beginning in 1945 in the wake of World War II and for thirty years after, the US sought to prevent a Communist takeover and dictatorial rule of what was then the French colony of Vietnam.

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This effort took the form of aid to the French military.  With their defeat in 1954 and the colony's division into North and South Vietnam, US aid went to the South in its war against the Communist North.  A decade later, infiltration forces of the North controlled much of the South and the North's conventional forces had invaded the South.

 

This situation, and the North's attacks on US installations, brought the US into full-scale war against the North.  By the end of 1965, there were 184,300 troops in Vietnam.  1,369 Americans had been killed.

 

. . . Home Events (1) . . .

 

While the war went on, life here at home went on.  Recorded here is a selection of events (momentous and trivial, comic and tragic) that took place in the cities, the towns, and the countryside from which the men named here had come and would not see again.

 

. . . Home Events (2) . . .

 

There was, as always, weather.  One Columbus Day a wind roared into our state toppling trees and lifting roofs and turning the day dark.  There were also bad floods.  In early spring around Hood River, a cold snap froze the burgeoning pear and apple trees.  The next year there was severe cold as well.  Around Dallas, the County trapper found that all of his traps had frozen solid.

 

. . . Home Events (4) . . .

 

But the inclement weather passed and Oregon returned to mildness and the bounty of good crops.  Farmers raised so many vegetables that our state placed 12th in national production.  In Wasco County, the fields had turned golden with a robust bounty of wheat.  And down in Medford, the orchards were heavy with delicious fruit.

 

800,000 pounds of fish were hauled across the docks in Brookings.  In Klamath Falls, there was a fine show of Angus cattle.  Our state was, indeed, a land of honey and licensed 2,000 bee-keepers in 1964.  And at Rickreall, locals gathered once again at the Grange Hall for New Year's dinner, grateful once again for a fine harvest.

 

. . . Home Events (5) . . .

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Canby bought a downtown block in order to construct a park.  Over in Eugene, jogging got its start as Medford held a rooster-crowing contest while a girl from Lake Oswego went to Tasmania with the Peace Corps.  And in Bend, a woman came up with Operation Sweet Tooth sending 11,000 pounds of candy to American troops abroad.

 

But, of course, there was also a dark side.  More than 3,300 people died in auto accidents.  Then, on 6 December 1962, as Portlanders were offered 50,000 rose cuttings from city parks, a native son was killed, the first Portlander to fall in Vietnam.