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It made the papers, but was covered far from sufficiently, when Elisha “Ray” Nance died a few years ago at the age of 94. You may never have heard of him, but he was well known around Bedford, Virginia, a picturesque town located at the feet of the Blue Ridge Peaks of Otter. He delivered mail in that neck of the woods for many years. But it was for what he did before becoming a letter carrier that he should be best remembered. Ray Nance was one of The Bedford Boys. In fact, he was the last surviving member of...

I will be at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas on Monday, and I know I will take many of you with me in spirit. But apparently not everybody. The occasion will be the Texas memorial service for Chris Kyle, an American hero in every sense of the term. But if it is one battlefield where he earned his honor as our most prolific sniper, it is another battlefield that has sprouted since his death. This arena is a war of words, sparked by the strong opinions of a variety of people on what Chris Kyle meant to our nation. To...

During solemn hearings on the floor of the U.S. Senate investigating drugs and terrorism a swarthy Hispanic who landed on U.S. shores with the clothes on his back and was graciously put on the path to U.S. citizenship repeatedly insulted a U.S. Senator who was also a highly decorated war veteran, an Ivy League graduate and a scion of a wealthy and politically-connected American family. The smartmouthed Latino was accused of drug-running and money-laundering to finance terrorists. He was testifying under oath –sneeringly and with a heavy Spanish accent-- upon a subpoena by lawmakers of the nation that had shown...

For just as politics can save the culture, politics can also destroy it. Which brings me to Thomas Lopez, a 21-year old lifeguard in South Florida. Two days before the Fourth of July, Lopez was fired for helping rescue a man drowning 1,500 feet outside of his designated zone. "It was a long run, but someone needed my help. I wasn't going to say no," Lopez told the South Florida Sun-Sentinel and other media outlets. When Lopez filed his incident report, he was canned on the spot. "They didn't tell me in a bad way. It was more like they...

The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962) Saturday night is movie night at No-house. If you're looking for a good one, you'll find it in the "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance" starring John Wayne, Jimmy Stewart, Edmund O'Brien, Vera Miles and Lee Marvin as the most debased villain you've seen since Stephen Hanks. It is directed by John Ford and shot expertly in black and white. From the moment that Marvin snarls onto the screen to rob the stagecoach bringing eastern lawyer Stewart out west, you know you're going to be interested til the end. Stewart intervenes to protect...

  The tenth anniversary of 9/11 is upon us. Rather than ruminating on pious platitudes or reporting the trite remarks of gaseous politicians, I thought it might be appropriate to update some prior columns that attempt to shed light on the subject. This is this third. A Memory Check for Americans David C. Stolinsky Sept. 5, 2011 Upgrading the memory of a computer can improve performance dramatically. So can upgrading the memory of a nation. But before you upgrade the memory of a computer, it is best to check what memory you have. To do this you can download...

  The tenth anniversary of 9/11 is upon us. Rather than ruminating on pious platitudes or reporting the trite remarks of gaseous politicians, I thought it might be appropriate to update some prior columns that attempt to shed light on the subject. This is this first. Where Do Heroes Come From? David C. Stolinsky Sept. 1, 2011 Army Staff Sergeant Leroy A. Petry earned the ninth Medal of Honor awarded during the current war in Afghanistan and Iraq, and only the second given to a living recipient. Despite prior wounds, Petry picked up an enemy grenade and threw it...

A WAR hero's medals have revealed the untold story of a Scottish soldier who survived three years of suffering building the notorious Burma Railway. Kenneth McLeod, who has died aged 92, was captured by the Japanese in the Second World War and was one of the last surviving veterans who worked on the bridge over the River Kwai. Now his daughter and son are donating his war medals, Glengarry bonnet and sporran to the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders museum at Stirling Castle, where he was based more than 70 years ago. Mr McLeod, of Bridge of Weir, Renfrewshire, was...

On the afternoon of Friday, March 11th, Hideaki Akaiwa was at his job, dully trudging out the final bitter minutes of his work week in his office just outside the port city of Ishinomaki in Japan's Miyagi Prefecture. What this guy's day job actually is, I honestly have no idea, but based on the extremely limited information I have on the guy I can only presume that his daily nine-to-five routine probably falls somewhere between the motorcycle chase scenes from the movie Akira and John Rambo's antics in the book version of First Blood on the ridiculousness/badassitude scale. But that's...

CUMBERLAND — Two local mountains need new names, a group of state senators say, and they want a commission created to select new monikers for Negro Mountain and Polish Mountain which “reflect more accurately the history and culture of the region within which they are located.” None of the nine senators sponsoring Senate Joint Resolution 3 represent the region where the two mountains rise in the Allegheny Mountain range, with Negro Mountain in Garrett County reaching a height of 3,075 feet and Polish Mountain in Allegany County climbing 1,783 feet from sea level. The senate resolution isn’t too popular with...

SAN ANTONIO - A real estate agent says she owes her life to five students who helped her escape a client who brutally attacked her. Janice Tisdale says she had just finished showing the man the upscale northwest side home and was reaching for the front door's lock when he struck her head with a pole from inside the house. She described it as a pole used to pull a staircase from the ceiling. Tisdale says the man demanded $4,000 and as she was bleeding on the front porch and still talking to him, a golf cart passed by, followed...

Tango Mike Mike (394 votes, average: 4.35 out of 5) Loading ... Share9774 Sign Up for the Video Of The Day Tango Mike Mike is the story of Green Beret Roy P. Benavidez and his heroic action in Vietnam that earned him the Medal of Honor. His story is truly amazing and is a tribute to all the Vietnam Vets whose stories haven’t been told. Check your library for the book “The Last Medal of Honor: The True Story of Green Beret Sergeant Roy P. Benavidez and His Six-Hour Battle in Hell” if you want to read more about Roy....

Parents Attack Carjacker to Save Their Baby They were standing just a few yards away, talking to family in the final hours of a long road trip, when a man jumped into their idling car at a Kansas City, Mo., gas station and sped off with their 6-month-old daughter strapped in the back seat. Their hearts pounding, Melanie and Aaron Richman ran. She was able to grab onto the passenger side and smash the window with her elbow. He somehow pulled himself inside the car and started punching and kicking the carjacker.

EL PASO — Fernando Espinosa always thought of his Boy Scout experience as a way to learn about leadership and helping others. But he never expected his 10 years of scouting to help him become a hero. On Jan. 22, without thinking twice, Espinosa pushed teacher Glenda Tanner, 47, out of the way of a car at a crosswalk in front of Franklin High School. The car struck Espinosa, who received a head injury from the windshield and hurt his left knee. ... For his bravery, Espinosa, 17, will be awarded the Honor Medal with Crossed Palms on Friday at...

This weekend’s New York Times Sunday Magazine contains a fascinating article that hits quite close to home for me. Centered around the story of a 25-year-old Marine who — despite horrific wounds — had the presence of mind and courage to scoop a live grenade under his body to save the lives of his comrades, the article asks a simple question: Why is the military awarding so few medals of honor? Are we less courageous now? Or is the military stifling valor awards in a labyrinthine bureaucracy dominated by rear echelon second-guessers? The numbers are stunning: Despite its symbolic...

They’re calling him a Frenchman, but even that is uncertain. All anyone really knows is that New York’s mystery hero leaped into the icy East River to help rescue a 2-year-old girl and then disappeared into the city. The man has not been seen since Saturday afternoon, when he helped rescue Bridgette Sheriden after she plunged 20 feet into the river while visiting a tourist attraction at the South Street Seaport with her parents. Jumping into the water fully clothed, not even pausing to take his phone from his pocket, he helped Bridgette’s father, David Anderson, stay afloat after he...

Services were pending Wednesday for a retired Army colonel who, at the time of his death in Waco, was believed to be the most-decorated living American soldier. Retired Army Col. Robert L. Howard, 70, who died Wednesday in Waco, was a Medal of Honor winner who at the time of his death was believed to be the most-decorated living American soldier. Howard will be buried at Arlington National Cemetery. Services were pending Wednesday through OakCrest Funeral Home in Waco. Texas Gov. Rick Perry issued a statement late Wednesday afternoon in which he said Howard “was the bravest soldier I...

One of Americas Greatest Speeches General Douglas Macarthur's "Farewell to the Corps" Delivered12 May 1962, at West Point, NY ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ General Westmoreland, General Grove, distinguished guests, and gentlemen of the Corps!As I was leaving the hotel this morning, a doorman asked me, "Where are you bound for, General?" And when I replied, "West Point," he remarked, "Beautiful place. Have you ever been there before?"No human being could fail to be deeply moved by such a tribute as this [Thayer Award]. Coming from a profession I have served so long, and a people I have loved so well, it fills...

Fort Hood, Texas (CNN) -- The police officer who ended the Fort Hood massacre by shooting the suspect was known as the enforcer on her street, a "tough woman" who patrolled her neighborhood and once stopped burglars at her house. "If you come in, I'm going to shoot," Kimberly Munley told the would-be intruders last year. It was Munley who arrived quickly Thursday at the scene of the worst massacre at an Army base in U.S. history, where 13 people were killed. She confronted the alleged gunman, Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, and shot him four times. Munley was wounded in...

A bomb disposal specialist who had defused more than 60 improvised explosive devices in Afghanistan died when one went off as he tried to disarm it. Staff Sergeant Olaf Schmid, 30, was on his last day before two weeks of rest and recuperation after a five-month tour in charge of an improvised explosive device (IED) search team in Helmand province. He was due back there next month. He died instantly when an IED that he was examining by the British forward operation base in the town of Sangin exploded on Saturday. The Ministry of Defence said that Staff Sergeant Schmid...

The last British survivor of the World War I trenches, Harry Patch, has died at the age of 111. Mr Patch was conscripted into the Army aged 18 and fought in the Battle of Passchendaele at Ypres in 1917 in which more than 70,000 British soldiers died. He was raised in Coombe Down, near Bath, and had been living at a care home in Wells, Somerset. The oldest WWI veteran Henry Allingham, who served in the Royal Navy and the RAF, died at the age of 113 a week ago.

Beverly Smith looked like a movie star Thursday afternoon, surrounded not by body guards but by the four Mormon missionaries she credits with getting her to safety during a three-alarm fire. The 83-year-old woman was among several residents forced from their homes when a blaze destroyed a 16-unit building at the River Ranch apartments in southwest Fort Worth, behind Hulen Mall. At least 40 people were displaced, and five apartments in a nearby building were damaged, officials said No injuries were reported. "I was screaming for help, but no one heard me," said Smith, who has lived at the complex...

Air Force Staff Sgt. Zachary Rhyner's story is one of heroism in battle. On April 6, 2008, Rhyner and his team were participating in an assault on Shok Valley in northeastern Afghanistan.

When one reads the new atheists, one gets the impression that the influence of Christianity has been entirely baleful, that Christianity’s contribution to morality has been entirely negative, and that the United States, far from being a Christian country historically, is really the finest flower of the anti-religious Enlightenment, and that we therefore ought to stamp out all public manifestations of Christianity, which will most likely wither away anyway as Americans become as sensible as contemporary Britons and Scandinavians. These peculiar beliefs often find expression in lawsuits trying to suppress all public expressions of Christianity. It is therefore with some...

  Dedicated: Nurse Debbie Noble, right, walked to treat kidney patient Steph Crawford  Nurse walked nine miles in the snow to save my lifeAnna Davis 13.02.09   A nurse walked nine miles through deep snow two days in a row to save the life of a patient who required kidney dialysis and was trapped at home.Renal nurse Debbie Noble, 49, made the four-hour round trip to help Steph Crawford fearing she could die without the treatment.Mrs Crawford, 45, from Ewell, suffers from kidney failure. She could not drive to her usual dialysis centre in Kingston, and ambulances could not...

An annual tribute to World War II heroism will take place Sunday at Tucson's veterans hospital. The Four Chaplains Memorial Service honors the actions of four men of faith who died in the sinking of a U.S. Army transport ship after giving away their life jackets to fellow troops. The chaplains of different faiths and denominations — Lt. George L. Fox, a Methodist; Lt. Alexander D. Goode, a rabbi; Lt. John P. Washington, a Roman Catholic priest; and Lt. Clark V. Poling, Dutch Reformed — linked arms and went down praying as the ship sank from a German torpedo hit....

As disasters go, this one was terrible, but not unique, certainly not among the worst on the roster of U.S. air crashes. There was the unusual element of the bridge, of course, and the fact that the plane clipped it at a moment of high traffic, one routine thus intersecting another and disrupting both...

EXCLUSIVE Brits fight off deadly pirates                      By DAVID WILLETTS Published: Today       A TEAM of hero Brits battled back deadly pirates four times in 24 hours armed only with Molotov cocktails and flare guns, The Sun can reveal. The three-man ex-military security team were hired to protect cargo ship S. Venus in the pirate infested waters of the Gulf of Aden off the Africa coast. On four separate occasions between New Year's Eve and New Year's Day Somali pirates – armed with AK-47s and rocket propelled grenades (RPG) – tried...

A hero Royal Marine saved 130 soldiers from certain death when he rugby tackled a suicide attacker before he could detonate a huge motorcycle bomb. The 40-year-old Marine saw the Afghan insurgent reaching for a yellow detonator button on the bike and leapt into action to drag him away.He foiled a cunningly planned attack in which the same motorcycle had been checked by the same troops just hours earlier when its panniers had been packed with potatoes instead of explosives.The suicide bomb contained 70 kilograms of explosives and was so huge it would have destroyed everything within 180 metres...

WASHINGTON, Oct. 8, 2008 – Army Sgt. Gregory S. Ruske is quick to call himself an ordinary soldier, but later this month the Army Reserve will single him out for extraordinary heroism in Afghanistan that earned him the Silver Star medal. Army Sgt. Gregory S. Ruske will become the fourth Army Reservist to receive the Silver Star for heroism demonstrated after he and his fellow soldiers were ambushed in Afghanistan’s Kapisa province April 21, 2008. U.S. Army photo  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. The 28-year-old Colorado Springs, Colo., native will become the fourth Army reservist to receive the...

Capt. Bruno de Solenni, R.I.P. [Kathryn Jean Lopez] A brother of a friend of mine (Pia) was killed by an IED in Afghanistan this weekend, along with two Afghan interpreters. A fellow soldier was injured. I was just reading a letter Bruno's hometown paper published before he died; what he has to say and who he was and what he sacrificed and the grief his family suffers are reminders of the tremendous burden so few of us bear for freedom: The bad days are when you put your buddy in a body bag and you don't even recognize him because...

September 18, 2008 For G-d's Sake, Give This Deceased American Hero His Medal! By Debbie Schlussel Marine Sgt. Rafael Peralta is a role model for all Americans, whether they are immigrants like him or native born. He made the ultimate sacrifice, giving his life to save those of his fellow Marines. Sadly, nitpickers in our military are denying him and his grieving family the Medal of Honor. It's a travesty. This late patriot deserves the honor. He earned it in blood and gutted limbs. This is the kind of one-time illegal alien I wish we had more of in America....

John McCain's Imprisonment in Vietnam: A True Tale of Heroism James Ray Have you ever heard the whole account of John McCain's imprisonment during the Vietnam War? Until recently, I was only aware of the general story; I didn't know the details. But I recently read a couple of pieces on McCain's capture, imprisonment and torture by the North Vietnamese, and it blew me away. Not since Ernest Shackleton's cursed journey to the South Pole have I heard a tale of such courage, mental toughness and physical endurance. The Young John McCain The Crash and Capture In October of 1967,...

Bat-lash By Sharon McGovern The Dark Knight is a box office phenomenon, having beat the following records: • Biggest single day gross (66.4 million).• Biggest opening weekend (155.34 million).• Broke the record for days taken to reach a 200 million dollar gross.• Broke the record for days taken to reach a 300 million dollar gross. And it’s on track to tie Titanic, the biggest blockbuster in history. Now, the sheer profitability of a movie doesn’t necessarily speak to its merit (see Titanic), but TDK’s continuing box office appeal does seem to indicate it’s touched a nerve. Some have proposed (with...

    Major gongs for heroic Our Boys   Award ... Captain Paul Britton is congratulated by Major General Gary Robison    By TOM NEWTON DUNN Defence Editor Published: Today     AN Army officer who led a battle despite a lump of burning shrapnel in his shoulder was one of 19 forces heroes awarded the Military Cross yesterday.   Praise ... Lieutenant General Graeme Lamb  Captain Paul Britton, 28, refused morphine so he could control artillery and air strikes to beat off Taliban attackers in Helmand province, Afghanistan. The Royal Artillery officer was wounded by a rocket-propelled grenade...

The Dark Knight has no use for FISA By Sharon McGovern This is not a review, though I submit The Dark Knight kicks a** so very hard. Instead, this will be a brief look at themes employed in TDK; a sequel to Batman is a NeoCon. If you haven’t already contributed to the movie’s astonishing opening weekend take, you might want to decide right now if you want to read something that gives away a number of its plot points. The Dark Knight begins with “the bat man� having become a fixture in Gotham. He inspires resentment for the toll...

The movie industry no longer aspires to portray genuine heroism—even though that's precisely what audiences want to see. A spate of movies about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and the war on terror came out last year, all of them hostile to U.S. involvement and all of them box-office flops. At the time there was a certain amount of soul-searching in the media as to why, when most Americans told pollsters they thought the Iraq war, at least, had been a mistake, they didn't seem to want to go and see movies that sought to show them just how...

<p>REPUBLICAN US presidential candidate John McCain has got some unexpected support from his former Vietnam War jailer, who said he would vote for the former navy pilot if he could.</p> <p>Speaking to the BBC from Haiphong, Tran Trong Duyet also insisted that Senator McCain's assertions that he was tortured during his time at the prison were lies, and that no one held there was ever subjected to torture.</p>

WASHINGTON, June 3, 2008 – Medal of Honor recipient Army Spc. Ross A. McGinnis joined a select group of military heroes during a Pentagon ceremony here today. Deputy Defense Secretary Gordon England hosted the event that added McGinnis’ name to the roster of other Army Medal of Honor recipients. Army Secretary Pete Geren and Gen. Richard R. Cody, the Army’s vice chief of staff, also attended the event at the library and conference center. Medal of Honor recipients “are our nation’s most-revered heroes,” England said. “And every time a name is added, that individual’s story enriches the significance of...

The White House announced Friday that a Pennsylvania soldier who jumped on top of a grenade in Iraq and saved the lives of his comrades will posthumously receive the Medal of Honor. The nation's highest military honor will be given to 19-year-old Army Pfc. Ross McGinnis of Knox, Pa., on June 2. McGinnis "distinguished himself by extraordinary heroism," said White House deputy press secretary Tony Fratto. McGinnis was perched in the gunner's hatch of a Humvee when a grenade sailed past him and into the truck where four other soldiers sat. He shouted a warning to the others, then jumped...

Dramatic rescue from creek saves four children By Jeff Raasch and Erika Binegar and Erika Binegar jeff.raasch@gazettecommunications.com erika.binegar@gazettecommunications.com ANAMOSA — Along the shore of Buffalo Creek, Phillip Horak heard the screams of 2-year-old Tatum McGloghlin inside his car, upside down and almost fully under water. Just 4 miles from home on a winding gravel road, Horak had spotted a raccoon or a dog, jerked the wheel and was soon filled with regret. The two-door Honda, carrying his girlfriend, Holly Winders, and four toddlers spun off Buffalo Road and down an embankment. It flipped end-over-end, landing on its top in 5-foot-deep...

Charlton Heston died this week at the age of 84. He had two careers, and both were “larger than life.” His family used that phrase in the statement they issued about his death. They spoke the simple truth. With his furrowed brow, his chiseled chin, his stentorian voice, he was cast in heroic roles from early in his career. But he took on similar roles in life, as the head of the National Rifle Association for five years, but also as a campaigner for issues that mattered to him, such as color-blind rather than color-driven civil rights. He was a...

FORWARD OPERATING BASE FENTY, Afghanistan, March 10, 2008 – Army Sgt. 1st Class Michael Loetz recently received a Bronze Star Medal for Valor for saving the life of an Afghan truck driver in 2007. Army Sgt 1st Class Michael Loetz, of Company F, 2nd Battalion, 503rd Infantry Regiment, is awarded a Bronze Star Medal for Valor for rescuing an Afghan truck driver during an ambush in eastern Afghanistan. Photo by Sgt. 1st Class Eric Hendrix, USA  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. The story behind the rescue is both harrowing and heartwarming. The Distribution Platoon of Company F, 2nd...

Frank Woodruff Buckles was just 15 years old when he joined the U.S. Army. Soon, he was deployed to war and headed overseas on the Carpathia -- the same ship used in the rescue mission of the Titanic. He drove ambulances in Britain and France for soldiers wounded during World War I. A few decades later, Buckles was in the Philippines as a civilian, on December 7, 1941, the day Japan attacked Pearl Harbor. He was taken as a prisoner of war for 39 months in Manila, eating his meals out of a single tin cup. More than 60 years...

(Edit) James Kelley, 22, was in the Richmond Hill pizza parlor where his mother works about 3:30 p.m. when he heard screaming. "I ran outside and saw two girls screaming from the second floor" of a neighboring building, Kelley said. "All I could think was, 'I need to help.' I was just thinking, 'Save those kids.'" Unable to break through a wall of fire and smoke on the second floor, he rushed to an adjacent laundermat and grabbed a fire extinguisher. After discharging it, he ran outside for another, but by then Police Officer Joe Amato had arrived, Kelley...

Second Lt. Bryan Jackson was eight months into his first tour of duty in Iraq and out on patrol in Anbar Province in September 2006 when the Humvee he was towing behind a Bradley Fighting Vehicle got stuck in the mud.It was a mundane mishap, but it made Jackson and his crew nervous. Not only did they fear the Humvee would roll over, but they also knew the stall made them a naked target for insurgent fire. Just a month earlier, a comrade had been seriously wounded at the same spot near the town of Hit. What happened next...

A Hero Among US by: James F. Davis, November 09, 2007 The first Medal of Honor since 9/11 was recently awarded posthumously by the President to Michael Murphy. It saddens me that, of the major media, only one, Fox News, carried the ceremony live. This is the highest award for bravery in defending our country. Our people, especially our youth, need to know about the kind of person who risked his life so that the rest of us could live free. I discovered I had one such hero in my own family. After taking my uncle, Gerald F. Davis, to...

FHM model saves British tourists from sinking boat in dramatic Baywatch-style rescueBy IAN EVANS - More by this author » Last updated at 18:19pm on 7th November 2007  A British family was rescued from a sinking ship in South Africa by a real-life Baywatch babe when a teenage model turned into a Pamela Anderson-style lifesaver. Professional surfer-turned-model Roxy Louw spotted the family's sinking charter boat from her private balcony overlooking the upmarket Clifton Beach in Cape Town, South Africa. She phoned the coastguard - then donned her wetsuit and ran towards the beach. Scroll down for more...Lifesaver: Roxy Louw...

Hero cops save 12 from fire in 2 Bronx homes BY PETER KADUSHIN, TINA MOORE and ETHAN ROUEN DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERSMonday, October 29th 2007, 4:00 AM Police Officers Christopher Scott (left) and Michael Welsh from the 12th Precinct As fiery debris rained down on them, two city cops rushed through a pair of Bronx homes engulfed in flames Sunday and helped rescue 12 people, including two infants.Officers Michael Welsh and Christopher Scott kicked down doors and screamed to wake people as the blaze devoured 374 Bronx Park Ave. in West Farms. After they emerged from the inferno, they...

The ultimate tribute: Iraq-hero Hall nominated for George Cross medalBy JONATHAN POWELL - More by this author » Last updated at 22:53pm on 13th October 2007  A British security guard who died as he saved the lives of four colleagues in Iraq is to be recommended for Britain's highest civilian honour, the George Cross. Simon Hall and his companions were unarmed when they were overpowered by gunmen near the Kuwait border, bundled into a pick-up truck and taken on a terrifying journey to almost certain death. But the captives launched a daring escape attempt, with Simon heroically grabbing hold...