Death toll of military personnel trapped while fighting a brush and timber fire which has blackened 9000 acres in hilly terrain 50 miles east of here rose to eight today. Eleventh naval district headquarters announced today more marines had died of burns, and E. A. Turner, [ ] deputy, said that a [ ] cavalryman from Camp Lockett, 7 miles southeast of the fire area, had succumbed. Names were withheld pending notification of next of kin. Earlier today, the Navy released names of five marines who suffered fatal burns when a group of firefighters in a narrow, steep canyon between Morena and Barrett lakes were engulfed by a sudden surge of flames. The victims were: Private First Class Lowell Rexford Whetsel, next of kin, wife, Mrs. Frances Whetsel, Anderson, Ind; Private Norman T. Shook, Jr., 19, next of kin mother, Mrs. Sophia Shook, Indianapolis; Private First Class Ishmael Worth Wesson, 20, next of kin mother, Mrs. Ora M. Wesson, Milan, Tenn; Private Ralph Clay Peters, next of kin wife, Mrs. True Wilma Peters, Tulsa, Okla; Private First Class Wilbur Vincent Rossen, 20, next of kin mother, Mrs. Maude Rossen, South St. Paul, Minn. The blaze, which has charred more than 6500 acres of valuable watershed since breaking out Saturday morning, was still uncontrolled today and being fought by hundreds of soldiers and marines who have reinforced federal and state forestry crews.
- Published in The Bakersfield Californian, October 4, 1943
Death toll of military personnel trapped while fighting a brush and timber fire which has blackened 9000 acres in hilly terrain 50 miles east of here rose to eight today. Eleventh naval district headquarters announced today more marines had died of burns, and E. A. Turner, [ ] deputy, said that a [ ] cavalryman from Camp Lockett, 7 miles southeast of the fire area, had succumbed. Names were withheld pending notification of next of kin. Earlier today, the Navy released names of five marines who suffered fatal burns when a group of firefighters in a narrow, steep canyon between Morena and Barrett lakes were engulfed by a sudden surge of flames. The victims were: Private First Class Lowell Rexford Whetsel, next of kin, wife, Mrs. Frances Whetsel, Anderson, Ind; Private Norman T. Shook, Jr., 19, next of kin mother, Mrs. Sophia Shook, Indianapolis; Private First Class Ishmael Worth Wesson, 20, next of kin mother, Mrs. Ora M. Wesson, Milan, Tenn; Private Ralph Clay Peters, next of kin wife, Mrs. True Wilma Peters, Tulsa, Okla; Private First Class Wilbur Vincent Rossen, 20, next of kin mother, Mrs. Maude Rossen, South St. Paul, Minn. The blaze, which has charred more than 6500 acres of valuable watershed since breaking out Saturday morning, was still uncontrolled today and being fought by hundreds of soldiers and marines who have reinforced federal and state forestry crews.
- Published in The Bakersfield Californian, October 4, 1943
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