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No one has greater love than this, to lay down one's life for one's friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. John 15:13-14

NEW YORK — A quick-thinking commuter saved a teenager who fell on the subway tracks by pushing him down into a furrow between the rails, allowing an approaching train to pass right over them, police said. An 18-year-old man had some kind of medical problem Tuesday and fell onto the tracks, which are a few feet below platform level, police said. Wesley Autrey saw him fall, jumped down onto the tracks after him and rolled with him into the rut between the rails as a southbound train was coming in.- snip-

PITTSBURG - A police officer who was shot over the weekend died Monday, leaving behind a wife pregnant with his first child and the memory of a conversation that may save the lives of strangers.Officer Larry Lasater, 35, was shot twice Saturday evening while chasing two robbery suspects. After hours of surgery, doctors declared him brain-dead Sunday.The former Marine and his wife, Joann, recently talked about donating their organs should one of them die, said Pittsburg Police Chief Aaron Baker. Joann Lasater said her husband's organs would go to at least three people, the chief said. "We've been told there...

It was in the third week of the Iraq war, as U.S. troops barreled toward Baghdad, that Sgt. 1st Class Paul Smith's band of combat engineers found themselves on the wrong end of 10-to-1 odds. In a walled courtyard not far from Baghdad's airport, Smith and his 15 lightly armed soldiers were trying to hold off 100 Special Republican Guard fighters wielding rocket-propelled grenades, mortars and AK-47 assault rifles. When wounds downed the U.S. crew of the armored vehicle bearing the Americans' sole heavy machine gun, Smith scrambled into the breach. In the gunner's hatch of that personnel carrier, with...

You can make a difference: After a public outcry, the U.S. Army has flip-flopped and will stop hindering a charity from distributing medallions that cite - cover your eyes and plug your ears - a Bible verse. In May the service said it would end its 9-year-old practice of releasing to Fallen Friend the names of troops killed in the line of duty. The reason: The inscription "John 15:13" on the medallions sent to survivors supposedly might "offend" somebody. The verse, which isn't even on the medallion, simply reads, "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man...

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (AP) -- The Army has reversed itself and will continue to help a nonprofit group distribute honorary medallions that cite a Bible verse.     Fallen Friend, which since 1995 has distributed nearly 2,000 medallions to survivors of those killed in the line of duty, had been told by the Army in May that it could no longer help forward the medallions because the inscription "John 15:13" was inappropriate and might offend some families.     The verse, which is not on the gold-colored medallion, reads, "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his...

Army Reverses Stance and Will Continue to Distribute Medallions That Cite Bible Verse Elizabeth A. Davis/Associated Press Jul 1, 2004 KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (AP) - The Army has reversed itself and will continue to help a nonprofit group distribute honorary medallions that cite a Bible verse. Fallen Friend, which since 1995 has distributed nearly 2,000 medallions to survivors of those killed in the line of duty, had been told by the Army in May that it could no longer help forward the medallions because the inscription "John 15:13" was inappropriate and might offend some families. The verse, which is not on...

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. July 1, 2004 — The Army has reversed itself and will continue to help a nonprofit group distribute honorary medallions that cite a Bible verse. Fallen Friend, which since 1995 has distributed nearly 2,000 medallions to survivors of those killed in the line of duty, had been told by the Army in May that it could no longer help forward the medallions because the inscription "John 15:13" was inappropriate and might offend some families. The verse, which is not on the gold-colored medallion, reads, "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life...

A Tennessee man who has been sending medallions to the surviving relatives of servicemen and women and police officers who die in the line of duty says the U.S. Army has told him it can no longer help him because the mementos have Bible verses on them.

An East Tennessee man who runs an organization that works to memorialize American soldiers and police officers is now battling the U.S. Army. Bob Parker runs a non-profit organization called "Fallen Friend." Since 1996, Parker has sent special medallions to the survivors of soldiers and police officers killed in the line of duty. On one side of the medallions is a picture of the Liberty Bell; on the other is a reference to a Bible verse. "That is Jesus' word, John 15:13," says Parker. "The verse says 'No greater man has any love than than a man lay down his...

KNOXVILLE - Since 1995, Bob Parker has sent nearly 2,000 honorary medallions to survivors of soldiers, police officers and firefighters killed in the line of duty. Parker and his nonprofit organization Fallen Friend has 17 more medallions to give, including one for Pat Tillman, the football player who quit the NFL to become an Army Ranger and was killed in April in Afghanistan. But Tillman's family and others won't receive their medallions. The Army has stopped helping Parker and Fallen Friend distribute the medals because there is a reference to a Bible verse on the back, according to two letters...

When she lived in her native Poland, Danuta Kowalik would bring her two young boys to a cemetery this time of year and solemnly visit the dead soldiers. "Somebody," she would explain, "needs to say ‘Thank you' to them." When she moved to Chicago's suburbs in 1991, Kowalik kept the tradition, changing only the day of the visits. Instead of the early May anniversary of Germany's World War II surrender, she adopted America's Memorial Day. This year, she'll be going back to a cemetery, but so much has changed. Today, she will be saying ‘Thank you' to her own soldier,...

LOS ANGELES — Long before he ever traveled to the Persian Gulf, Marine Lance Cpl. Jose Gutierrez was acquainted with perilous and uncertain journeys. Lanky, quiet and full of ambition, Gutierrez, 22, is believed to be the second U.S. serviceman to die in combat, an American Marine with a distinctive Southern California background: He was among thousands of Central American immigrants who for years have made their way north in dangerous personal odysseys. At age 16, he had traveled by himself from his home in Guatemala, making his way across Mexico into the United States, where he was taken in...

Names of the four US Marines who died in yesterday's helicopter crash: Maj. Jay Thomas Aubin, 36, of Waterville, Maine Capt. Ryan Anthony Beaupre, 30, of Bloomington, Ill. Cpl. Brian Matthew Kennedy, 25, of Houston, Texas Staff Sgt. Kendall Damon Watersbey, 29, of Baltimore, Md. The Pentagon has just released the names of two more US Marines who were killed in Iraq. I'll post as soon as I find that.