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The Banner News / banner-news.com
Thursday, May 21, 2015
Army Navy Outlet
Thanks to all who have served and are serving.
6416 416 Wilkinson Blvd Blvd. • Belmont Belmont, N NC Main Street Crossing Shopping Center MONDAY-SATURDAY 10-7 • ARMYNAVYOUTLET@GMAIL.COM
Volume 80 • Issue 20
Serving Belmont • Cramerton • Lowell • McAdenville • Mount Holly • Stanley
Diary of local WWII hero discovered after many years By Alan Hodge alan.bannernews@gmail.com
editors note: this story is part mystery, part mystery solved, and about the diary of a Belmont guy as he relates flying 51 combat missions on board a B25 bomber in the Pacific during WWII. This story began when Art Shoemaker brought a notebook by the BannerNews office. The notebook was a copy of the WWII diary of Belmont na-
Army-Navy Salutes You!
tive Charles McLean. “I was cleaning out some things in my office and found it,” Shoemaker said. “It was given to me by former Banner editor Dwight Frady many years ago.” According to an undated letter found in the diary, it had been given to Frady at some point by a person named Paul Neal of Banner Elk. In the letter, Neal called McLean “his student”. Turns out, Neal was an English teacher at both Belmont
©CommunityFirstMedia
Thursday, May 21, 2015
Belmont Memorial Day event set
High and Belmont Abbey and McLean was indeed one of his students before joining the Army Air Corps in 1941. After the war, the two stayed in touch and McLean had given Neal a copy of the the diary he wrote. See WWII HERO page 9
American Legion Post 144 will conduct its annual Memorial Day event on Sunday, May 24 at 2pm in Greenwood Cemetery, S. Main St. behind First Presbyterian Church, Belmont. The event will include Presentation of the Colors by South Point JNROTC Color Guard, Pledge of Allegiance, the National Anthem, Welcome by Mayor Charlie Martin, and the American Legion POW Ceremony by Post 144 member Larry Norwood. Guest speaker will be Rev. Ray Hardee of The Pointe Church of Belmont. The Pointe Church Praise Team will perform patriotic songs and a 21-gun salute fired by the Gaston County Sheriff's Dept. Honor Guard. All are welcome to attend.
Mt. Holly sets proposed FY2015-2016 budget By Alan Hodge alan.bannernews@gmail.com
This is the type of bomber, a North American B25 Mitchell, that Charles McLean of Belmont served as a navigator on during World War II. Photo courtesy Carolinas Aviation Museum
This picture shows Charles McLean in his U.S. Air Force uniform at an airbase near Rio de Janeiro near the end of WWII. Photo contributed by John McLean
The City of Mount Holly has set its proposed FY20152016 budget. The proposed budget was approved at last Monday's meeting of the City Council. NC State law requires municipalities to submit a balanced budget by July 1 each
year. Mount Holly's proposed FY2015-2016 budget is $17,469,200- a 12.5 percent increase over the adjusted FY2014-2015 budget of $15,535,000. City manager Danny Jackson says department manSee BUDGET page 3
Joe DePriest retires after 50 years covering the news By AlanHodge alan.bannernews@gmail.com
One of our region's most prolific and talented journalists, Joe DePriest, 71, has decided to hang up his note pad and pen- well, almost- after half a century covering the news. A native of Shelby, with roots in Cleveland County going back to the 1700s and his ancestor William DePriest who fought at the Battle of Kings Mountain, Joe was born to write. “Ever since I was a child I have enjoyed telling stories,” he said. DePriest got his start in journalism as a senior at Shelby High. “I started with the Cleveland Times in May 1962, just before I graduated in June,” he said. “My job was setting lead type for the old printing press. “They let me do a little writing on the side.” After high school, DePriest attended Gardner-Webb and went on to graduate from UNC School of Journalism in 1967. He then went to work for The Shelby Star. A job that lasted about six months before Uncle Sam came calling. “I got a draft notice,” DePriest said. Joe decided to make the best of his looming selective service and joined the Army for a three year stint as a military journalist. “The war was going on in Vietnam and they told me I
would probably just have to serve in Germany if I enlisted,” DePriest said. That turned out not to be the case. “I took basic training at Fort Bragg and began writing for the 'Paraglide' there,” he said. “Then, I was sent to Vietnam from June 1968-June 1969 as a reporter for the 'MACV Observer' which was a weekly tabloid of news. I was also out in the field traveling on operations with troops such as the 4th Infantry. I saw a little bit of the country. It was an interesting time.” Returning from Vietnam, DePriest finished his military stint with the 197th Inf. Brig. at Fort Benning, Georgia where he worked in the public information office. The year 1970 rolled around and DePriest was back at The Star, a post he filled for 20 years covering every inch of Cleveland County. After that, he heard the Charlotte Observer was expanding its regional scope with the Gaston Observer edition and he hopped on board turning out great stories there for many years until, on January 30, 2015, DePriest decided to retire. DePriest's years at the Observer won him many friends and a heaping helping of professional respect from colleagues like Roland Wilkerson. “I started working with Joe in December of 1999 when I joined the Gaston Bureau as an editor- I'm currently the Joe DePriest (left) is seen receiving a proclamation honoring his 50 years in journalism from Belmont mayor Charlie Martin at a recent assistant features editor,” Wilkerson said. See DEPRIEST page 2 city council meeting. Photo by Alan Hodge
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