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HOLMBERG: Another death in East End is overlooked MARK HOLMBERG TIMES-DISPATCH COLUMNIST Sep 17, 2006 Mark Holmberg Mark's column appears Sun. and Wed. Contact him at (804)649-6822 or mholmberg @timesdispatch.com It was all-too easy to miss the death of a patriot late last month. Riddled with bullets, he fell to the ground in the 400 block of North 31st Street at 6:20 a.m. He was waiting for a bus to take him to work that Aug. 30 morning. The man had been robbed and shot by two juveniles, police reported that day. The slaying barely made the news -- another...

Sgt. Mark Seavey was outnumbered, but not alone at the moonbat townhall hosted by Reps. Jim Moran and John Murtha last week. Near the end of the marathon session, a Vietnam veteran, General Wagner, stepped up to the microphone to deliver a message from the mother of an Iraqi war vet who gave his life for his country and for the mission. After reading a scathing letter addressed to Murtha, Wagner talked about his own experience in Vietnam: General Wagner speaks the truth Download the video (.wmv file). A snippet of Wagner's remarks: I visit Walter Reed [Army Hospital] and...

Dearest A$$ Clown, I know your commitment to our country and to Iowa's proud tradition of grassroots activism. Today, we need Iowa Democrats like you more than ever. Washington Republicans have set this country on a failed course. The only way we can reverse it is to elect more Democrats in 2005 and 2006. And that is where you come in. This Sunday, October 9th I hope you will join me as I travel to Des Moines, Cedar Rapids, and Iowa City in support of Democratic candidates, local Democratic parties and leading progressive organizations. Our first stop will be in...

Sgt. First Class Daniel McKinney had just given his Iraqi police students a lunch break. Entering the small dining area in the Iraqi military compound, McKinney sat down with his meal, glancing up briefly as the door opened. An American lieutenant walked to the door and McKinney looked back at his food. At that moment, the suicide bomber standing in the doorway exploded. As the terrorist blew himself up, the lieutenant and another American, along with at least two Iraqis, were killed instantly. As many as 18 other soldiers, including six Americans, were wounded. One of those was McKinney. The...

See original thread here: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1200566/posts August 20, 2005 In regards to: Ralph W. Hill Department of Veterans Affairs Medical & Regional Office Center 5500 East Kellogg Avenue Wichita, Kansas 67218-1698 Dear W. Hill: Subject: Application for Burial Benefits This letter has taken a long time to write, along with the decision that comes with it. I have debated and prayed for several months as to whether I should appeal your decision on Ralph’s death pension benefits. The fact that you made the decision that Ralph’s death was not service-related is what I disagree with. There are some things on Ralph’s...

Wal-Mart billionaire John Walton dies in plane crash55 minutes ago WASHINGTON (AFP) - John Walton, a billionaire heir of retail giant Wal-Mart, died when the small home-made plane he was flying crashed in a national park in Wyoming, authorities said. Walton's plane crashed at 12:20 pm local time (1820 GMT) shortly after taking off from Jackson Hole Airport in Grand Teton National Park, the National Park Service said in a statement. The cause of the accident was not immediately known. "Walton, the pilot and sole occupant of the aircraft, died on impact and was later pronounced dead at the scene...

“Memory n. 1. The mental faculty of retaining and recalling past experience; the ability to remember. 2. An act or instance of remembrance; a recollection… see smer in Appendix.” “smer – to remember. In Germanic murnon, to remember sorrowfully, in Old English murnan, to mourn.” I remember Chuck Meerholz and the day I was supposed to drive. After four months with B Company, 1st Battalion, 69th Armor; four months of on-the-job-training for a guy trained as an infantrymen, I was being taught to drive our tank. B Company was to participate in a big operation centered on the village of...

Steve Rasmussen stood earnestly, his voice cracking with emotion describing his father’s love for the U. S. Military Academy and his privilege to witness something that meant so much to his father with the hope it will mean the same to its new owner. His father, James Asa Rasmussen, USMA class of 1945, who died October 26, had a last wish of contributing his class ring to the Class Ring Memorial Program. His ring was included among the 12 present at the ring ceremony conducted at the Pease & Curren Refinery in Warwick , R.I. , March 8. In four...

A tribute to fallen HEROES  from the staff and visitors at FreeRepublic.com, FreedomUSA.org and Veterans for Constitutional Restoration (VetsCoR)  During the course of this country's history brave men and women have stepped forward from time to time, answering the country's call to fight against would-be tyrants, dictators and despots,  and to defend the individual freedom that is our birthright.  Many of these brave men and women have paid the ultimate price. It is to these brave men and women of the Army, Air Force, Navy, Marine Corps, Coast Guard, and Merchant Marine that we dedicate this page, and to...

FRAMINGHAM -- When Collin Kelly arrived at Edgell Grove Cemetery to place flowers on soldiers' graves yesterday, he discovered a crowd of people and decades of emotions buried deep. The cemetery visit by the young boy, whose effort to honor dead veterans has made him a national media celebrity this past week, attracted a large group of onlookers: veterans, reporters, patriotic well-wishers and people grieving the loss of loved ones laid to rest at Edgell Grove.

The recent photo of U.S. Army Major Mark Bieger cradling a wounded Iraqi girl in his arms is one of those indelible images that puncture the often impenetrable fog of the war at the geo-strategic level. (For the story of the photo click here http://komotv.com/news/story.asp?ID=36687). This powerful photo contrasts with the negative media portrayals riveted into our minds about the Viet Nam War. One memorable Viet Nam war photo is the picture of children fleeing down a road from where a napalm bomb was dropped by the South Vietnamese Air Force on the village of Trang Bang where Viet Cong...

Johnny finally came marching home again on a rainy day in late March in the town of Quincy, Mass. The town turned out to pay its respects to Edward Alan Brudno and to 47 other hometown sons who made the ultimate sacrifice in a war no one wanted. Al Brudno was one of the longest-held American prisoners of war during Vietnam: He endured nearly eight years of torture and solitary confinement that began when he was shot down over North Vietnam in October 1965. He was 25 then. He survived to come home with the other POWs who were freed...

Rick Rescorla may be remembered forever as a hero who led hundreds of people to safety from the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001, but he will be immortalized at Fort Benning as a young soldier in Vietnam. A portrait of the former Army colonel was unveiled Thursday in a special ceremony honoring Rescorla, a decorated Vietnam veteran who died in the terrorist attack after helping evacuate 2,700 employees from the World Trade Center. The 62-year-old Rescorla, a Fort Benning Officer Candidate School Hall of Famer, was security chief for Morgan Stanley working in the south tower. After the...

FORWARD OPERATING BASE DANGER, Iraq, Feb. 20 - The old pilot was recalling a different war in a different place. "Every time we went in, we went in hot," he remembered. "You were fighting your way in and fighting your way out." The pilot, Chief Warrant Officer James G. Freeman, was 23 when he began flying Huey helicopters in the Vietnam War in 1970. His missions with the 116th Assault Helicopter Company often involved dropping into a battleground to unload soldiers after helicopter gunships had "prepped" the zone with a torrent of rockets and machine-gun fire. "There were a lot...

Super Tuesday polls are closing ...

What You Don’t Know About John KerryChuck Noe, NewsMax.comTuesday, Jan. 20, 2004With his win in Iowa, Sen. John Kerry could be on his way to the White House. But most Americans are unaware of the real Kerry. Here are facts and quotations that reveal the character of the new Democrat leader. Denouncing America with ‘Hanoi’ Jane: Although Wesley Clark and others have attacked former front-runner Howard Dean as a draft-dodging ski bum, Kerry is far more complex than the simple war hero he portrays himself as. He became a celebrated organizer for one of America's most extreme appeasement groups, Vietnam...

Military wife gets $500 gift of kindness from stranger By Lisa Heyamoto Seattle Times Eastside bureau DEAN RUTZ / THE SEATTLE TIMES After a casual conversation with a man in line at the Woodinville Post Office, in which Karin Santos mentioned her husband serving in Iraq, the man presented her with a wad of cash in the parking lot. E-mail this article Print this article Search archive It was in the post-office parking lot, of all places, where Karin Santos rediscovered her faith in humanity. It had been an emotional few months. Her husband Alberto had left for Iraq in...

A 67-year-old expert pilot from Texas died in a fiery plane crash less than 2 miles south of an airport runway at the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton International Airport Tuesday morning. Thomas Benton Delashaw, whose nickname was "Sharkbait," of Conroe, Texas, was piloting an early 1950s vintage Hawker Hunter military jet aircraft