Free Republic

Dr. Joseph Giordano, the surgeon credited with saving President Ronald Reagan’s life after a 1981 assassination attempt and remembered for one of the pithiest comebacks ever uttered in an operating room, has died at the age of 84. Giordano’s family announced this week that he passed last month at a hospital in Washington, DC, from an infection caused by a lengthy illness. Giordano was in charge of the George Washington University Hospital (GW) trauma team that worked on the president after he was shot by would-be assassin John Hinkley Jr. on March 30, 1981, as the president emerged from the...

To mark the premiere of Fox Nation's new special, "The Attempted Assassination of Ronald Reagan," former White House Advance Planner Rick Ahearn joined "Your World" Tuesday to reflect on the shooting of the 40th president by John Hinckley 40 years ago next week.

Inside the Neve Shalom Synagogue after the 1986 terrorist attack. Photo: Facebook.Thirty years ago, Neve Shalom — Istanbul’s largest synagogue, whose name means “oasis of peace” — was the target of a brutal attack at the hands of Jew-hating murderers.On September 6, 1986, Palestinian Arab terrorists affiliated with the Abu Nidal Organization (ANO) bombed and opened fire at Neve Shalom during a Sabbath service, killing 22 people.At the time, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA) called the attack “the bloodiest synagogue massacre since the Nazi era.”Gabriel (Gabi) Saul — a survivor whose father, Dr. Moiz Saul, died in the attack — told Şalom, a Jewish-Turkish weekly newspaper, about the moment of the attack: There were...

Saint Charbel Makhlouf. Denver, Colo., Jul 22, 2012 / 06:52 am (CNA/EWTN News).- On July 24, the Catholic Church celebrates the life of St. Charbel Makhlouf, a Maronite Catholic priest, monk, and hermit who is known for working miracles both during his life and after his death. On the occasion of his beatification in 1965, the Eastern Catholic hermit was described by Pope Paul VI as “ a new, eminent member of monastic sanctity,” who “through his example and his intercession is enriching the entire Christian people.” Born into humble circumstances in Lebanon during 1828, Yussef Antoun Makhlouf was...

Big boy rooster greets the hen with a whistle and the hen speaks her mind. The next day, the rooster and hen, in the morning, met again. The hen greets the rooster and he speaks his mind. Revski (o7jimmy)

FORT HUACHUCA — He was the kind of guy who would give you his last cigarette. Stories like this were told during Wednesday’s memorial service in a packed Main Post Chapel for Sgt. Robert Allen Glenn, who died Saturday in Tucson. “He was the first to initiate a friendship,” Chaplain (Capt.) Vincent Garcia said, noting how common it was for soldiers to say Glenn was the first person they got to know in the unit. Glenn was a “cable dog” with the battalion’s 69th Signal Company, which is preparing to deploy to the Middle East. A number of soldiers stood...

SANTA CRUZ, Bolivia - Fidel Castro insists Ernesto "Che" Guevara could never have been taken prisoner 40 years ago if his gun hadn't malfunctioned. But the retired Bolivian general who led the mission to capture him says the Argentine revolutionary was hardly a heroic figure in his final moments. The man that Gen. Gary Prado remembers — sad, sick, hungry, dressed in rags and alone in the jungle — simply dropped his gun and surrendered, saying, "Don't shoot, I'm Che." "He wasn't the figure of the heroic guerrilla," Prado recalled in an interview with The Associated Press Thursday night. Decades...

WERETH, Belgium, May 1, 2007 – During the early stages of World War II’s Battle of the Bulge, 11 black U.S. soldiers assigned to the 333rd Field Artillery Battalion were tortured and executed by German SS officers. Though they have been gone for many years, their spirits live on in this tiny village located in eastern Belgium. Army Sgt. Edward Murray, Spcs. Clint McKinley and Terrence Hicks, and Pfc. Kevin McPherson, assigned to Landstuhl Regional Medical Center, in Germany, served as the color guard for an April 28 ceremony in Wereth, Belgium. The ceremony commemorated 11 black soldiers assigned...

Arizona Diamondbacks broadcaster Joe Garagiola Sr. had front-row seats for the 1976 presidential election. The Paradise Valley resident and his wife stayed that night in the Lincoln Bedroom of the White House and watched election coverage on television with President Gerald Democratic nominee Jimmy Carter had gained a slight lead, and the president decided to go to bed when it appeared no quick winner would emerge. Garagiola, a former St. Louis Cardinals catcher and “Today Show” panelist, shared the story Wednesday, a day after Ford’s death at his California home. Garagiola, now 80, said watching the election unfold with Ford...

Babs Miller was bagging some early potatoes for me. I noticed a small boy, delicate of bone and feature, ragged but clean, hungrily apprising a basket of freshly picked green peas. I paid for my potatoes but was also drawn to the display of fresh green peas. I am a pushover for creamed peas and new potatoes. Pondering the peas, I couldn't help overhearing the conversation between Mr. Miller and the ragged boy next to me. "Hello Barry, how are you today?" "H'lo, Mr. Miller. Fine, thank ya. Jus' admirin' them peas. Sure look good." "They are good, Barry. How's...

FORT HUACHUCA — In January, Sgt. 1st Class Tim Kurczewski saw Tristian J. Slade off, as the 19-year-old headed for basic training. Monday, the former Army recruiter was at Chaffee Parade Field as he and other soldiers and civilians bade farewell to Slade, a private first class. Slade, of Charlotte, N.C., died Friday morning of unknown causes. Not feeling well, he went to a post medical clinic, where he collapsed, was treated by medical personnel and rushed to the Sierra Vista Regional Health Center, where he was pronounced dead on arrival. The cause of his death is under investigation. Kurczewski...

FORT DODGE - Family, friends, political leaders, several hundred motorcyclists and others paid their last respects Saturday to Sgt. Jessie Davila, the Kansas National Guardsman from Greensburg killed last month in Iraq. In the lead-up to the funeral service, the grounds around the Cathedral of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Dodge City took on the air of a multifaceted political rally. About 700 flag-waving members of the Patriot Guard Riders, a group of motorcyclists and others who attend U.S. soldiers' funerals around the country, were on hand, though they didn't enter the church. "Our whole goal is to honor a...

CAMP FALLUJAH, Iraq (Nov. 2, 2005) -- More than 22 years ago the United States government agreed to establish a peacekeeping presence in Beirut, Lebanon to help quell a conflict between Muslim and Christian factions in the country. In early 1983 Marines and Sailors of the 24th Marine Amphibious Unit, deployed to Beirut to support the mission. During the early morning hours of Oct., 23, 1983, having spent nearly six months in country, disaster struck. At approximately 6:22 a.m., 241 service members [220 Marines, 18 Sailors and three Soldiers] lost their lives in a matter of seconds when a suicide...

The Road of Death remembered Fear of new US assault rekindles Iraqis' Gulf war nightmares Ewen MacAskill in Baghdad Wednesday May 8, 2002 The Guardian Abdul Maaunaim Abdul Wahab, a former Iraqi commando sergeant, still has nightmares about the Road of Death, the route from Kuwait to the Iraqi port of Basra along which Saddam Hussein's army retreated during the Gulf war 11 years ago, and the scene of its worst carnage "We left at one, in the middle of the night," he said. "My division had 1,650 men. When we arrived in Basra at 10 in the morning, half...