Free Republic

Jaycee Lee Dugard, who survived being kidnapped aged 11 and held captive for 18 years, is to write a book about her ordeal. She will pen the currently untitled book herself and cover her life from her abduction in 1991 to the present day, publisher Simon & Schuster announced today.

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — The group most threatened by swine flu and most in need of the new vaccine, world health authorities say, is that of pregnant women. For example, Aubrey Opdyke. On June 27, Opdyke, a 27-year-old waitress and former high school swimmer who weighed 135 pounds before her pregnancy and had no health risks other than a smoking habit, came down with mild flu symptoms. She just came home from the hospital three weeks ago.

Captive speaks of Taleban horror Daniele Mastrogiacomo, 52, thought he would be killed An Italian journalist freed after being kidnapped by the Taleban in Afghanistan says he saw his captors cut off the head of one of two Afghans with him. Daniele Mastrogiacomo, who works for the La Repubblica daily, was seized two weeks ago in southern Helmand province. Mr Mastrogiacomo was said to be in good health in hospital. His driver's body has yet to be handed over, while his translator was also freed on Monday. The men were kept in chains and moved 15 times while in captivity,...

Nearly 61 years after surviving a living nightmare, it's still not easy for Adolfo Celaya to talk about what he endured that night in 1945. Celaya, who grew up in Barrio Viejo, was an 18-year-old sailor on the USS Indianapolis. He worked in the ship's belly, where he helped feed oil into the vessel's four giant boilers. But on the night of July 30, Celaya was on the ship's deck in the Philippine Sea with his Tucson buddy, Santos Peña. Two Japanese torpedoes struck the cruiser. The Indy split and sank within 12 minutes, taking 300 of the 1,196 men...

For all of Joel Gordiejew's62 years, he has lived with a hidden, somber history. He was born in German-occupied Poland during World War II. His birth certificate carries the Nazi swastika. His parents were forced to work in Nazi slave camps. They were overworked and abused, he said. His maternal grandfather was separated from the family during the war and was never seen again. After the war ended in 1945, his family lived as refugees in Poland and Germany. In 1949 Gordiejew's family came to the United States, where their fortunes improved. But over the years Gordiejew's parents said little...

Those who lived it will never forget what they were doing 60 years ago this month, on the day Japan admitted defeat. For Americans, it was wild celebration in the streets of cities large and small. For Deli Brink Bloembergen, then 16, it was staring at a plane circling the prison camp where she and other Dutch civilians had been held by the Japanese, in what is now known as Indonesia. "A small plane with a red, white and blue circle flew low over our heads," says Bloembergen. Two men in the see-through cockpit made the "victory" sign. The war...

'It was just total panic' Woman seeks $10 million in storage facility ordeal 09/27/03 By GARY McELROY Staff Reporter A woman who survived being stuck in a storage unit for 63 days told jurors Friday of cold, hunger, thirst and despair as her civil suit continued in Mobile County Circuit Court. Wanda Hudson, 44, is suing Parkway Storage, located on Dauphin Island Parkway. She is asking $10 million, claiming negligence on the company's part. From Our Advertiser For a few minutes Friday, it looked as though attorney Mallory Mantiply's case against the company would self-destruct when Hudson, out of the...

What Harry Wilkinson remembers most about World War II is the cold. More than half a century later, his feet still hurt sometimes because they were so badly frostbitten during the Battle of the Bulge. "The cold was terrible because there was no place to go to get out of it," says Wilkinson, 78, a retired watchmaker from Chicago who now lives in Oak Forest. "Whenever you found a place to sleep at night in a sleeping bag, it was usually outside because, if I went into a building, they were going to blow it apart. I was in General...