Out of the past: June 8

1996

One of two B-17 Flying Fortresses owned by Confederate Air Force is on display at the Cape Girardeau Regional Airport today and tomorrow; for Melvin Kasten, the visit brings back memories of World War II, when he was a 19-year-old bombardier, dropping bombs on Nazi Germany from a B-17.

When Cross Trails Medical Center opened in October in Cape Girardeau, staff had high hopes the new clinic would provide much-needed care for families who otherwise might not be able to see a doctor; but the federal budget impasse and cuts in funding are closing those doors; at the end of the month, the clinic will temporarily suspend operations; once funding becomes available again, the Cape Girardeau clinic will re-open.

1971

A total of 38 Southeast Missouri projects -- including one in Cape Girardeau designed to provide a more direct route between Interstate 55 and the Mississippi River bridge -- are included in a $231,068,000 tentative highway construction and right-of-way acquisition program announced by the Missouri Commission for the coming fiscal year; the commission hopes to acquire right of way in 1972 for a two-mile widening project on William Street that would provide an improved route between the interstate and the river bridge.

Tots who will be 4 years old by Oct. 1 are being enrolled for the summer pre-Head Start nursery school to begin June 15 at Cape Girardeau Civic Center, 1232 S. Ranney St.; classes will meet Tuesday and Thursday mornings.

1946

Mississippi River traffic bridge at Cape Girardeau. (G.D. Fronabarger ~ Southeast Missourian archive)

The traffic bridge here is purchased by the Cape Girardeau Special Road District for $2,370,000; the deal is consummated in St. Louis shortly after noon at the Boatman's National Bank; purchase is made from the Sarjem Corp. of Chicago, which owned the 40,000 shares of common stock of the Ozark Trails Bridge Co., having acquired the stock from the Stranahan interests of Toledo, Ohio; the district will issue revenue bonds in the amount of the purchase price, and these will be assumed by the Sarjem Co., which specializes in such tax-exempt securities.

With no opposition voiced to the project, the City Board of Adjustment yesterday approved a city permit for construction of a factory building costing $60,000, on the east side of Spanish Street, near Good Hope Street; the building will house the Dorsa dress plant, now located farther north on Spanish.

1921

COMMERCE, Mo. -- The body of Floyd Simmons, World War soldier, is laid to rest in Valentine Cemetery at Commerce at the end of a long journey from its soldier's grave in Hericourt, France, where it was placed after his death, Oct. 8, 1918; a large crowd of friends and intimate relatives is present at the burial; Simmons' death was caused by influenza and pneumonia, which he contracted two months after he landed on foreign soil; he was 22 years old.

Funeral service for Jesse Fitzgerald, member of the American Expeditionary Forces, who died at Brest, France, Sept. 17, 1918, is held at Walther's undertaking parlors; Fitzgerald, 32, contracted an illness while at sea that developed into influenza and pneumonia and caused his death three days after reaching France.

-- Sharon K. Sanders