Free Republic

ATLANTA — Before a military helicopter disappeared into a thick bank of fog off the Florida coast, killing all 11 servicemen aboard, military officials had conducted an “operational risk assessment” and determined that the weather was safe enough to fly in, Maj. Gen. Joseph L. Osterman, commander of the Marine Corps Forces Special Operations Command, said Friday. But once the two helicopters participating in the Tuesday evening exercise were aloft, a decision was made to turn back, General Osterman said. And only one helicopter made it back. The details of the Black Hawk helicopter’s final flight were disclosed at a...

A veteran of three wars who was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor is now facing an unlikely enemy — his neighbors. Col. Van T. Barfoot, 90, has raised the Stars and Stripes every day at sunrise and lowered them every day at sunset since he served in the U.S. Army. But on Tuesday he received a letter from the law firm that represents his homeowners' association, ordering him to remove the flagpole from his Richmond, Va. yard by 5 p.m. on Friday or face "legal action."

9,500-year-old decorated skulls found in Syria Sun Sep 24, 4:14 PM ET DAMASCUS (AFP) - Archaeologists said they had uncovered decorated human skulls dating back as long as 9,500 years ago from a burial site near the Syrian capital Damascus. "The human skulls date back between 9,500 and 9,000 years ago, (on which) lifelike faces were modelled with clay earth ... then coloured to accentuate the features," said Danielle Stordeur, head of the joint French-Syrian archaeological mission behind the discovery. Located at a burial site near a prehistoric village, the five skulls were found earlier this month in a pit...

by Staff Sgt. Ryan Hansen 386th Air Expeditionary Wing Public Affairs 8/15/2006 - SOUTHWEST ASIA (AFPN) -- It may be surprising to hear that the 386th Air Expeditionary Wing has a Vietnam era Purple Heart recipient working at the wing. It is even more surprising to hear that the combat veteran is actually a C-130 Hercules deployed from Ramstein Air Base, Germany. On the flight deck of aircraft 63-7865 is a plaque telling the story of one of the hardest working aircraft in the Air Force inventory. According to the certificate, on June 1, 1972, the aircraft was assigned to the 21st Tactical...

Besby Frank Holmes, a decorated combat ace who helped kill the Japanese admiral who planned and coordinated the attack on Pearl Harbor, died Sunday at Marin General Hospital. He was 88. --snip-- Mr. Holmes was an avid flier and career officer, but the high point in his career came in 1943 when he was a 25-year-old pilot flying P-38 Lightnings from an airfield on the island of Guadalcanal. The Army and Marines were battling the Japanese for control of the South Pacific. U.S. forces intercepted a message indicating that Adm. Isoruko Yamamoto would be flying to Bougainville island for an...

LOS ANGELES (AP) - Retired U.S. Army Col. Young O. Kim, a highly decorated military hero of World War II and the Korean War who later worked to help the city's Asian communities, has died. He was 86. Kim died from cancer on Dec. 29 at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, according to Diane Tanaka, associate director of the Go For Broke Educational Foundation, which Kim co-founded and served as chairman emeritus. "There aren't many war heroes like him, regardless of race and ethnicity," said Edward Chang, an assistant professor of ethnic studies at the University of California, Riverside. "He's a truly...

COVINA, Calif. (AP) - Lillian Keil, a decorated flight nurse who helped evacuate thousands of wounded U.S. troops from the battlefields of World War II and the Korean War, has died. She was 88. Keil died of cancer Thursday at a convalescent home in Covina, said her daughter, Lillianne Wittman. Keil flew on more than 425 missions during the wars, rescuing men who fought in the Battle of the Bulge, on the beaches of Normandy, and in the Inchon invasion. She loaded troops onto C-47s and other transporter planes, then treated them en route to hospitals in safety zones. "They...

Reviewing AMERICA’S FIRST FROGMAN, The Draper Kauffman Story, by Elizabeth K. Bush. Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, MD, 2004. 220 pages, photos, appendices, index. Elizabeth K. Bush, sister-in-law of former president George H.W. Bush (who wrote the Foreward), has delivered an overdue biography of her brother, Rear Admiral Draper L. Kauffman. She tells the story well, spicing it with anecdotes, excerpts from Kauffman’s letters, while making full use of the admiral’s oral history. Here was a man who packed several adventurous lifetimes into his 66 years. Son of career naval officer James L. Kauffman, Draper dutifully entered Annapolis. Denied a commission...

Gulf War Vet Seeks Clemency Associated Press February 18, 2003 LUBBOCK, Texas - A decorated Army veteran who blames childhood abuse and exposure to nerve gas during the Gulf War for his killing of a female soldier has asked President Bush to spare his life.