LOIS HENRY: Small town gave huge sacrifice to war
| Tuesday, Nov 10 2009 05:10 PM
Last Updated Tuesday, Nov 10 2009 05:40 PM
Photos unavailable for these Wasco High grads who also died in World War II:
Lt. Donald Hopkins, Class of '38, killed in airplane crash at San Francisco, May 1943
Marine P.F.C. Harold Rose, Class of '42, killed in action, July 1944, Saipan
The farming town of Wasco was tiny back in the 1940s, 4,196 people.
But it made a huge contribution to the war effort, losing at least 23 sons in countries across the globe.
One of those sons only recently made it back to native ground.
After 64 years, the remains of Ray D. Packard were returned from France where his plane was shot down in 1944.
He was buried last October with full military honors at the National Cemetery in Prescott, Ariz.
His nephew, Ron, was his last surviving family member and accepted the flag at his service, according to news accounts.
Little Wasco has a big heart when it comes to one of their own.
Ray's story touched several Wasco High grads, including Ken Cannon (Class of '46) who quickly jumped on the Internet to find out as much as he could about Packard (Class of '42). Cannon didn't know him in school, but he remembered his name and felt the full story of Packard's service needed to be told.
Second Lt. Ray Packard was a pilot in the Army Air Force when he was sent on a mission with 21 other P-38 Lightning fighters to attack enemy airfields in France on Aug. 25, 1944.
They were intercepted by more than 80 German fighters. During the dogfight, 11 P-38's, including Packard's, were shot down.
Five of the pilots escaped, two were taken as prisoners and of the four men who were missing in action, three were recovered. Only Packard remained unaccounted for.
In 1951, a U.S. Army Graves Registration Command Team investigated but only found small pieces of aircraft wreckage.
Then in 2006 and 2007, a Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command traveled to Angy, France, and after two excavations found human remains and other evidence, including Packard's dog tags.
His remains were brought home and laid to rest Oct. 22, 2008.
"On this Veterans Day, keep this account of one service person's heroic and agonizing story in your thoughts as well as all of the other service personnel serving now or in the past," Cannon wrote in a tribute to the former Wasco High alum. "Freedom comes at a price."
-- Lois Henry
