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Veterans of World War II, the Korean War and the Vietnam War could legally register firearms brought home as war trophies under a bill introduced May 4 by Rep. Jim Gibbons, R-Nev. The bill, HR 2088, allows veterans and their heirs to register firearms that troops were allowed to bring home under U.S. military policy in effect at the time. It would not change existing policy for combat veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan who are barred from bringing back any captured weapons. Called the Veterans’ Heritage Firearms Act, Gibbon’s bill applies to firearms brought back to the United States...

It's taken six years and a special act of Congress, but an aircraft mechanic from Princeton, Minn., is the undisputed owner of a rare World War II Corsair fighter plane that he salvaged 15 years ago from a North Carolina swamp. Last week, U.S. District Judge Michael Davis in Minneapolis approved a settlement that ends a lawsuit filed a year ago by the U.S. Justice Department against Lex Cralley. The lawsuit was the climax of an escalating battle of wills that had been going on since 1999 between the 50-year-old Northwest Airlines mechanic and the U.S. Navy. "I've been under...

KADENA AIR BASE, Okinawa — Sixty Easter Sundays ago, James Beaudet leaned on the railing of a troop ship off Okinawa and watched World War II’s biggest Pacific beach landing go on all around him. “It was quite a show,” the 79-year-old retired engineer said during a recent visit with his granddaughter’s family on Kadena Air Base. Ships stretched to the horizon; smoke from the bombardment blanketed the beaches, he said. “We’d stand at the rail and wonder what was happening down on the beaches and then a kamikaze would come out of nowhere and we’d run to the other...

German tourist sends 'unlucky' old stone back to Thailand Fri Feb 11,12:41 AM ET Offbeat - AFP BANGKOK (AFP) - A German tourist has sent a stone he found in historic ruins back to Thailand, blaming it for three years' of bad luck, officials in Bangkok said. AFP Photo The Tourism Authority of Thailand said the tourist, Michael Beil, told officials in a letter that he found the stone in 2001 during a visit to a temple in the old royal capital of Ayutthaya and took it home to Germany. He had a change of heart however and sent the...

ATLANTA (AP) -- Two live hand grenades were found today at Atlanta's airport in the luggage of a soldier returning from Iraq, halting operations at the international terminal for about half an hour. Airport spokeswoman Felicia Browder says the soldier was aware of the grenades, and he tried to alert the Transportation Security Agency but it was too late. The bags were already being screened. Browder said there was no evacuation of the international terminal, known as E-Concourse, but people were kept back a safe distance until an Atlanta police bomb unit removed the grenades. She said a handful of...

PARSIPPANY, N.J. -- Show-and-tell became more exciting than usual Thursday, when a first-grade student who wanted to share his family's vacation souvenir with his classmates brought a hand grenade to the Eastlake School, officials said. When he showed his teacher what he had, she alerted the school's principal, who then evacuated the school for 30 minutes. Parsippany police and other emergency personnel responded along with the Morris County Sheriff's bomb squad. The grenade was soon determined to be inert and was seized for disposal. The boy's parents had told him not to bring the grenade to school, but he defied...

May 30) -- When Saddam Hussein was rousted from his spider hole in Dawr, a town near Tikrit, by U.S. soldiers last December, Iraq's fallen dictator was clutching a pistol. He is now in detention at an undisclosed location, being questioned by American authorities and awaiting charges for war atrocities and crimes against humanity. But what ever happened to the pistol? The sidearm has made its way to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. Sources say that the military had the pistol mounted after the soldiers seized it from Saddam and that it was then presented to the president privately by some of...

When Saddam Hussein was rousted from his spider hole in Dawr, a town near Tikrit, by U.S. soldiers last December, Iraq's fallen dictator was clutching a pistol. He is now in detention at an undisclosed location, being questioned by American authorities and awaiting charges for war atrocities and crimes against humanity. But what ever happened to the pistol? The sidearm has made its way to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. Sources say that the military had the pistol mounted after the soldiers seized it from Saddam and that it was then presented to the President privately by some of the troops who...

A Political Look at HollywoodLauren Hutton, one of the granddames of supermodels, recently returned from Tanzania. What she brought back with her was a bunch of watches decorated with pictures of Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden. Maybe Hutton has forgotten that, in 1998, terrorists bombed a U.S. Embassy in Tanzania. Two hundred fifty-eight people met an untimely death, and more than 5,000 individuals were injured. When asked by the New York Daily News about whether the trinkets were anti-American, Hutton responded: "I've been feeling pretty un-American myself, lately. But then I didn't approve of the Roman Empire either when...

Vending their feelings Globe-trotting Lauren Hutton came home from a recent trip to Tanzania with a suitcase full of macabre souvenirs. "They were selling watches in carts, with pictures of Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden on them," the venerable supermodel told us. "For $1.50." And did she buy one? "Are you kidding?" said Hutton, who last night was the guest of honor at a benefit here for the African Rainforest Conservancy. "I bought every one they had" (as mementos for friends and family). Terrorists' bombs rocked the U.S. Embassies in Nairobi, Kenya, and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, in August...

<p>Tiffany globe paperweight belonged to victim Gregory Milanowycz, 25, said his mom, Adele.</p> <p>March 21, 2004 -- EVERYBODY does it. That's the response Jane Turner got when she told federal investigators that a fellow FBI agent had stolen a Tiffany globe found at the World Trade Center after the Sept. 11 terror attacks.</p>

<p>ATLANTA, Georgia (CNN) -- A year after the U.S.-led invasion toppled Saddam Hussein's government in Iraq, items touted as having come from Saddam's palaces have turned up for sale on the auction Web site eBay.</p> <p>The seller of one secondhand rug lists the previous owner of the roughly 6-by-9-foot piece of carpet as ousted Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein.</p>

The Justice Department investigation that criticized FBI agents for taking souvenirs from the World Trade Center site also found that Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld and a high-ranking FBI official kept items from the Sept. 11 attack scenes. The final investigatory report said the Justice Department inspector general confirmed Rumsfeld "has a piece of the airplane that flew into the Pentagon." The Associated Press obtained a copy of the report Friday. Pentagon spokesman Lawrence Di Rita said Friday night that Rumsfeld has a shard of metal from the jetliner that struck the Pentagon on a table in his office and...

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Justice Department investigation that criticized FBI agents for taking souvenirs from the World Trade Center site also found that Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld and a high-ranking FBI official kept items from the Sept. 11 attack scenes. The final investigatory report said the Justice Department inspector general confirmed Rumsfeld "has a piece of the airplane that flew into the Pentagon." The Associated Press obtained a copy of the report Friday. Pentagon spokesman Lawrence Di Rita said Friday night that Rumsfeld has a shard of metal from the jetliner that struck the Pentagon on a table in...

WASHINGTON - The Justice Department investigation that criticized FBI agents for taking souvenirs from the World Trade Center site also found that Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld and a high-ranking FBI official kept items from the Sept. 11 attack scenes. The final investigatory report said the Justice Department inspector general confirmed Rumsfeld "has a piece of the airplane that flew into the Pentagon." The Associated Press obtained a copy of the report Friday. Investigators learned Rumsfeld had the airplane part after an FBI agent saw a television interview in which the defense secretary was "holding up pieces of building from...

RAMSTEIN AIR BASE, Germany — Closing a military base requires more than just the shift of personnel and equipment. It also involves the transfer of history — about 5,000 pounds worth. With Rhein-Main Air Base’s scheduled December 2005 closure, personnel and operations have begun moving to Ramstein and Spangdahlem air bases. The first step in the relocation of Rhein-Main’s historical memorabilia began last month when a 12-foot-tall, 4½-foot-wide section of the Berlin Wall, which has stood at Rhein-Main since the early 1990s, was taken to Ramstein Air Base. “We were tasked to get the historical memorabilia off of Rhein-Main, whether...

Report: FBI Agents Took Ground Zero Souvenirs FBI Had No Policy On Taking Mementos POSTED: 1:44 a.m. EST February 26, 2004 UPDATED: 1:14 p.m. EST February 26, 2004 Story by wnbc.com NEW YORK -- According to a Justice Department report, at least 13 FBI agents entrusted with removing evidence following the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, removed items for souvenirs or gifts, NewsChannel 4 reported. According to the confidential report, agents removed American flags, marble building chunks, patches from World Trade Center security guard uniforms, World Trade Center signs and keys and a Tiffany globe. "To think of taking...

SANTA ANA, Calif. - Mel Gibson (news)'s "The Passion of the Christ" not only has people debating the last hours of Jesus' life, but also running out to buy such souvenirs as crucifixes, lapel pins and cards tied to the film's promotion. A particularly popular item is a pendant fashioned from a single nail made of pewter and attached to a leather strap, say officials of Bob Siemon Designs, which is licensed by Gibson's Icon Productions to produce jewelry tied to the film. The pendants represent the nails used in the film to fasten Christ to the cross. "This thing...

Saddam memorabilia on sale in Baghdad Baghdad, Iraq Press, February 23, 2004 – Iraqis know a lot about the fabulous palaces the former leader Saddam Hussein built for himself and his family. But they have little knowledge about his personal belongings. Saddam Hussein was rumored to have had hundreds of expensive hats of different shapes and sizes. His suits, coats, shoes and shirts were said to be of the most expensive type Italian, French or British boutiques offered. A collection of these items is now for sale in the al-Amil District in Baghdad. The organizer and owner of the memorabilia...

When he was forced to fashion statues of Saddam Hussein on horseback, the Iraqi sculptor, Kalat, had no idea that someday he would melt them down to create a memorial for American Soldiers. The two original statues -- which adorned a gate at the palace complex where 4th Infantry Division’s headquarters group is located -- were removed with explosives in early July, said 1st Sgt. Mark Anderson, Headquarters and Headquarters Company. The statues were cut into pieces by the 555th Engineer Group and shipped to Kalat who reshaped the chunks of bronze into a likeness of an American Soldier. A...