BURNETT TREGONING SERVED IN KOREA
Annual Wreaths Across America project underway
William Burnett Tregoning was born in San Mateo, California on April 20, 1933 to Alex and Esther Tregoning. Burnett was the second of four children. He had an older sister who sadly passed away when she was young.
Their father worked for PG&E in the San Francisco Bay Area but wanted to move his family closer to his birthplace of Caspar, California, and would transfer closer and closer to the Mendocino coast over the years.
In 1946 the family moved to Ukiayh and Burnett would spend his freshman and sophomore years at Ukiah High School.
Then In 1949, during his junior year, the family moved again to the coast where Burnett graduated from Mendocino High School in 1950. He would spend the next couple of years at Santa Rosa Junior College. He eventually attended UC Berkeley where he graduated with a degree in journalism in 1954.
In October of that same year his draft eligibility was moved up and he was drafted into the United States Army. Before he left for basic training, he married his girlfriend, Marilyn Holmes. He attended basic training at Fort Ord, California, while his new wife went back to college.
After basic training, he moved on to Advanced Individual Training (AIT) where he would attend clerk typing school and be trained as an Information Specialist.
He would remain at Fort Ord until one day in the Spring of 1955. At 6 a.m. he received orders to the Armed Forces Far East. He was to be sent on a troop train to Seattle, Washington to be sent by ship. Before the ship could leave, he was sent to Travis Air Force Base in California. Burnett then boarded a plane bound for Korea. Over
a week later, and after several stops for refueling, he reached Camp Casey, HQ for the 7th Infantry Division in Korea.
Burnett was stationed in the Public Information Office at the 7th Infantry Division Headquarters. He began working as a writer for three military newspapers, the division’s weekly The Bayonet, The Army Times and the Far East Edition of Stars and Stripes which is still around today. He would spend the next 16 months w r iting about va r ious units for members of the Army as well as for civilians back home.
Burnett had an exciting landing while in the field covering a story, he was writing about the 7th Division’s aviation company. As part of the interview, a young 1st Lieutenant took him for a ride in a L-19 artillery observation airplane. However, upon returning, the lieutenant misjudged the landing and broke one of the landing skids on the bird which made for an interesting experience.
Aug. 16, 1956 after two years of service Burnett was honorably discharged. Upon being discharged he realized that although he developed many useful new skills while in the service, there were many old skills he hadn’t used during that time and to quote Burnett “You’ve got to learn things all over again.”
He was referring to an account when he had borrowed his father-in-law’s car and left the parking brake on all the way from Berkeley to San Jose.
One of those new skills he had developed while in the military would benefit him and play a big role in his future civilian life, as after being discharged he applied for a job with Western Farm Equipment magazine in San Francisco.
He took with him to the interview a scrapbook his wife had filled with clippings of newspaper articles he had written and sent to her while overseas. When Burnett walked into the interview, he laid the scrapbook on the interviewer’s desk and promptly was hired for the job.
Burnett is still married to his wife, Marilyn. They are now retired to Mill Valley and at the age of 87 he is still involved in writing, using his U.S. Army enhanced writing skills as the editor of the Mill Valley Rotary Club newsletter.
This year, the National Wreaths Across America Day ceremony for our location has been canceled. We are making necessary modifications to the laying of veteran wreaths to ensure the safety of all who participate.
All sponsored veteran wreaths in 2020 will be placed throughout the day on Thursday, Dec. 17, and Friday, Dec. 18, by volunteers who have signed up to participate. This year’s Wreaths Across America theme is “Be an American Worth Fighting For.” To join us in laying veteran wreaths, please visit our official Wreaths Across America webpage at www. wreathsacrossamerica.org/ pages/17815 to sign up for a specific time slot by clicking the red Volunteer button.
If you have special requests, please contact the volunteer Location Coordinator at RRCD@PACIFIC. NET or (707) 462- 8012 to make those arrangements. Masks and social distancing are required.