Recollections
News from Eagle Bend's Past
25 Years Ago
March 11, 1998
“Join the Navy and see the world” read the early United States Navy recruiting posters. That’s exactly what Bonnie Beach, daughter of Roger and Virginia Beach of rural Eagle Bend, did. Fresh out of high school, Beach entered the U.S. Navy. Upon completing basic training she was assigned to the USS Whidbey Island. On July 1, 1997, the Whidbey, with 38 female and 300 male sailors and 310 Marines on board left the port of Norfolk, Virginia for an extended tour of sea duty. The Whidbey would visit 20 foreign ports before they returned to the United States. Bonnie would cross the equator twice, be promoted to Master Helmsman and received a proposal of marriage!
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Bob Solid has spent the past 25 years as an accident-free school bus driver for the Eagle Bend School district. In appreciation of his efforts the Auxiliary of the Eagle Bend Veterans of Foreign Wars 6318 nominated Solid for a safety award. Solid was honored and presented with a plaque and a tiny yellow school bus hat pin during the Auxiliary’s fish fry that was held on February 28.
66 Years Ago
March 21, 1973
The many friends of Oliver Benson will be interested to know that he and Tony Becker of Minneapolis spent a few hours in Eagle Bend last Wednesday afternoon. It should be of interest too that former Major Oliver Benson, O.S.S., was the first American to parachute into Yugoslavia and established liaison with Tito in World War II. Since the war, he has spent the past 10 years as an overseas representative of Pepsi-Cola International.
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E.C. Clementson of Eagle Bend, agent for Mutual Service Insurance Companies, was selected to speak to the firm’s annual Sales Congress in Minneapolis in recognition of his outstanding sales work during 1956.