Free Republic

The process to remove grave headstones of German prisoners of war that display swastikas and markings related to the Nazi regime at cemeteries in Texas and Utah will begin later this month, Veterans Affairs announced. The VA said Monday in a statement that it has decided to replace the headstones on gravesites of three German POWs. Two are located at Fort Sam Houston National Cemetery in San Antonio, Texas, and one is at Fort Douglas Post Cemetery in Salt Lake City, Utah. “Americans must always remember the horror of the Nazi regime and why so many Americans sacrificed so much...

WASHINGTON — The US Veterans Administration will not replace three tombstones of soldiers who fought for Nazi Germany inscribed with swastikas in its military cemeteries, calling them “historic resources.” A group that advocates for religious freedom in the military on Monday called on the VA to replace two World War II-era POW headstones in Fort Sam Houston National Cemetery in San Antonio, Texas, inscribed with swastikas inside a German cross, and the phrase, “He died far from his home for the Führer, people, and fatherland.”

<p>Officials at Fort Sam Houston say they’ve taken into custody the driver of a vehicle that military officials say contained explosive materials, and which sparked a lockdown at the San Antonio Army base.</p> <p>The Bexar County Sheriff’s Department said on Twitter that the lockdown was being handled by military police, and the sheriff’s department had no units assigned to the case.</p>

The Air Force took over Fort Sam Houston on Monday, and it didn't have to drop a bomb or fire a shot. But then, it wasn't that kind of a takeover, and in fact was celebrated as a new era of cooperation among rival services, right down to the joint Army-Air Force band that played before a crowd of 300 on MacArthur Parade Field. Five 75 mm howitzers rocked the air as the Army garrison at Fort Sam became the 502nd Mission Support Group/Garrison — an entity headed by an Army colonel who reports to an Air Force general. The...

An Iraqi doctor encouraged security officers at Brooke Army Medical Center to shoot him earlier this month after telling others that he planned to free accused Fort Hood shooter Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, a federal agent testified Monday. FBI counterterrorism and military intelligence operatives took a hard look at Senan Kahtan Abrahem after he went to Fort Sam Houston on Jan. 6 and approached an information booth at BAMC about seeing Hasan, according to testimony at a bail hearing Monday for Abrahem. Abrahem, an immigrant living in San Antonio, was indicted last week on a federal charge of making a...

A temporary lockdown of Fort Sam Houston was lifted by noon Wednesday after officials determined that a man who tried to visit Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan was not a threat to the base's security. The man, whose name was not released, asked for an escort to Hasan's Brooke Army Medical Center hospital room around 9 a.m. He first said he was Hasan's lawyer, and then claimed to be his doctor, said hospital spokesman Dewey Mitchell. “The man was asked by BAMC security to leave, and he complied,” Mitchell said in an e-mail. The man was not arrested. The base was...

FORT SAM HOUSTON, Texas (Army News Service, Aug. 8, 2005) - Servicemembers with severe injuries requiring extensive treatment and rehabilitation will soon get assistance at a new facility on Fort Sam Houston. The $30 million National Armed Forces Physical Rehabilitation Center, funded by the nonprofit Intrepid Heroes Fund, will be built on a 4.5-acre site adjacent to two new 21-room Fisher Houses. The groundbreaking for the four-story, 65,000 gross square feet center is planned for the fall. “We already provide great care to these warriors. The new center will make it even better,” said Brig. Gen. James Gilman, Brooke Army...

The Army Medical Department Center and School’s newest multi-service course teaches its students the inner workings of a cutting-edge biological warfare identification device. The first formal Joint Biological Agent Identification and Diagnostic System Course, taught at nearby Brooks City-Base, started mid-July with 24 military and civilian students from military installations throughout the world. The students’ job titles range from microbiologists and medical laboratory technicians to preventive medicine and food inspection specialists. But while their uniforms and jobs may vary, all have something in common – JBAIDS. JBAIDS is the latest weapon in the race to identify biological warfare agents quickly...

Members of the U.S. military, in San Antonio and everywhere, should be able to wear their uniforms with honor, pride and dignity. But they've been warned against wearing them in public by their own commander, Maj. Gen. Darrel R. Porr.