By Marjorie Womach
Special to The Record 

Harrington in the mirror of time

 

Last updated 4/1/2021 at 9:23am

City of Harrington Archival Photo

Herman Bassett served as printer and owner of the Harrington Citizen in the early 20th Century.

HARRINGTON – Recently the Harrington Library had an inquiry from Jack Dunsmoor who is in transition from California to Spokane and looking for some very specific information: Which of the Harrington veterans flew in B-17s or B-24s, besides Eugene Kramer, and what history does Harrington have pertaining to Eugene Kramer? He spent several hours reading from notebooks, which were given to the Harrington Museum by Adelia Bassett Scott. These notebooks contain the best of the articles published in the Harrington Citizen on each of the men serving our country, letters from the servicemen to the paper and to their families, and photos of the men at various stages of their military careers.

Adelia Bassett Scott was the daughter of Herman S. Bassett. For those not familiar with Harrington's history, Herman Bassett was the long-time owner and publisher of the Harrington Citizen, who had his start in the publishing world when at age 15 he apprenticed himself to George Stewart of the Cheney Herald and learned his trade as a printer. Following the historic Spokane fire in 1887, Bassett took a job there as a pressman in what had become the "tent city." In 1890, he found employment at the Sprague Herald, where he met Nettie Judd whom he married. They had three children. Sadly, their son died in infancy. In 1896, Bassett moved to Wilbur, where he partnered with Howard Spining at the Wilbur Register. In 1905, he purchased the ill-fated Edwall Press and operated it until 1907, when he purchased the Harrington Citizen. From 1907 until 1959 Herman Bassett operated the Citizen except for the 11 years when he sold it to Robert E. Gay, while remaining as foreman in the late 1920s. Bassett himself retired in 1959, and the paper was sold to the Times Publishing Co. in Davenport.

Adelia Basset Scott was a 1915 graduate of Harrington High School and later attended the University of Idaho. She began work at the Citizen in 1932, when her mother died, and she continued for 34 years. She worked side by side with her father, and after his retirement she ran the paper with only the part-time help of a school-aged boy. She followed the Citizen in its transition to Davenport where she continued to edit the Citizen and to work as a linotype operator at the Times. Following Adelia's death in 1974, another old-time Harrington favorite, Ruth Cormana, wrote a tribute to her in which the following was recorded:

"During World War II Adelia and her father collected great quantities of tinfoil for salvage and enough string to make a ball the size of a medicine ball. All through the Korean conflict she sent the Harrington Citizen to all the boys from home and kept up with the latest news of them. She was sincerely interested in Harrington youngsters from the time they were born until they finished high school, and she followed their further education and careers closely. She had a wide circle of correspondents and I imagine her mailbox was full each day. Even when retired from news gathering, she kept a personal type of newspaper "morgue" and could research little-known or long-forgotten items of interest about Lincoln County citizens and events."

Adelia Bassett married Clarence Almon Scott in November of 1918, son of Rev. Edwin Clarence Scott, who homesteaded at Lord's Valley.

The collection of five military notebooks is alphabetized and full of actual news clippings, hand-written letters, photos and additional personal trivia pertaining to the men serving during the "great wars." It will take weeks to read through these notebooks to absorb the details that were carved out of the real-time drama of every day life. Eugene Laurence Kramer was the name with which Dunsmoor began his search.

Lt. E. Laurence Kramer, 23, was killed in a plane crash near the Casper, Wyo. army airfield in an accident that killed 11 military personnel. Kramer, as a pilot, had made 25 missions over enemy Europe from his base in England in the bomber "Skippy" and came home on leave in December 1943. In January of 1944, he was promoted to first lieutenant and wore the air medal, with three oak leaf clusters, the distinguished flying cross and a European service ribbon.

The Odessa Record reported, "A squad of Geiger field soldiers conducted military rites at the Harrington cemetery last Wednesday for Lt. E. Laurence Kramer, young flying officer killed in a plane crash near Casper, Wyo. on Nov. 13. Four of the six casket bearers were classmates of Lt. Kramer's class of 1939 at Harrington HS. The young officer was the son of Otto Kramer. (Odessa Record: 11-30-1944)

When Dunsmoor peruses the many pages gathered by Adelia Bassett, he could also find many additional sources of information in the Odessa Historisches Museum in their Military Display and Military Notebooks, which Dr. John Gahringer and Florence Stout Gahringer preserved. Their photo collections are a rich source of data. Even the Krupp Western Sage (Marlin's school paper) included historic pieces worthy of note: "Paul Fiess Visits. First Lt. Paul E. Fiess, son of Robert Fiess, returned home Jan. 2. He has spent seven months overseas, having been in England since D-Day. He was a pilot of a B-17 bomber and made 33 missions, putting in 284 flying hours over Nazi-occupied Europe. He was Combat Squadron Leader on his last three missions. He was awarded the air medal with three oak leaf clusters, a Presidential Citation with cluster, the Distinguished Flying Cross and two Major Battle Stars. Lt. Fiess has left for Santa Anna Air Base in California, where he will receive a new assignment." (Vol. VI, No. V, Jan 25, 1945)

Many of the obituaries gathered for the Odessa City Cemetery include prominent mention of the sacrifices made for our freedom.

"The body of Second Lieutenant Velmer M. Deife, shot down over Germany on March 15, 1945, while serving as co-pilot of a B-17 bomber, is arriving home today. Funeral services will be held from the United Congregational Church on Friday afternoon at 2 o'clock, the Rev. E.J. Eslinger officiating. The combined veterans groups of Odessa will have charge of military honors at the cemetery. The body will arrive in the care of Strate Funeral Home. A military escort will meet the train. Born Jan. 6, 1921, north of Marlin, Velmer Deife took most of his schooling at Marlin, before completing his senior year and graduating with the class of 1939 from Odessa High School. He attended school at Cheney, enlisting in the air corps in 1942, while still at college. He was called up in 1943, about six weeks before graduation and following his training was commissioned a second lieutenant in the air corps. Acting as pilot, he was awarded the air medal with two oak leaf clusters. The purple heart and presidential citation were awarded posthumously. Survivors are his parents Mr. and Mrs. Fred Deife; four sisters, Mrs. Alma Johnson, Spokane; Miss Mildred Deife and Mrs. Norma Campbell, Tulsa, Okla. and Mrs. Elaine Schauerman, Odessa, and his maternal grandfather." (Odessa Record: 26 May 1949).

Freedom truly has not been free.

 

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