Free Republic

Spring Grove soldier laid to rest Hundreds attend services for the fallen soldier on Saturday. By TIM STONESIFER For the Daily Record/Sunday News ork, PA - In the silence, you could hear the fabric rub together as the flag was folded at last into a triangle. There, on a hillside near Spring Grove, a soldier pressed it with white gloves hard to his chest, then raised a hand in salute, motionless. A church bell tolled, a butterfly arced quietly over rows of tombstones, and more than 300 American flags stirred in the breeze along a rutted road. The first crack...

Lance Cpl. Hunter “H.D.” Hogan entered the USMC 26 OCT. 2009. He served with the 1st Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division. The most outstanding custom in the Marine Corps is simply “being a Marine” and all that it implies. Call it morale, call it esprit de corps, call it what you will — it is that pride which sets a United States Marine apart from the other armed services. It is not taught in manuals, yet it is the most impressive lesson a recruit learns in boot camp. It is not tangible, yet it has won fights against...

The wife of an Army officer serving in Afghanistan witnessed her husband’s death as the two video chatted via Skype, his family said Friday. The circumstances of Capt. Bruce Kevin Clark’s death were not immediately available. The Pentagon said it was under investigation, and his brother-in-law said he didn’t have details. “We are entrusting the military with investigating and with finding out what happened to Capt. Clark,” Bradley Taber-Thomas told The Associated Press. Clark, a 43-year-old Army chief nurse, grew up in Michigan and lived previously in Spencerport, N.Y., a suburb of Rochester and his wife’s hometown. He joined the...

Obama expresses 'deep regret' over Koran burning AFP – 5 hrs ago US President Barack Obama sent Afghan President Hamid Karzai a letter of apology over the burning of copies of the Koran overseen by a US officer at a US military base, Karzai's office said Thursday. Obama said the incident was unintentional and pledged a full investigation, the president's office said, as fierce anti-US protests swept the nation in which at least 14 people have died, including two American soldiers. "I wish to express my deep regret for the reported incident," Obama wrote in the letter presented to Karzai...

Pfc. Douglas J. Jeffries Jr. – 20 Springville, CA – 2nd Battalion, 87th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division One of two soldiers killed when enemy forces attacked their unit with a roadside bomb in Kandahar, Afghanistan, on September 8, 2011 I spoke with Doug's grandfather Steve Jeffries today at a local gas station and he asked me why a singer that died from a drug overdose rated flags lowered to half-staff statewide when all his grandson got was flags lowered to half-staff in Tulare county by order of the Board of Supervisors. Good question but I...

Electric vehicles may seem like the inevitable evolution of the conventional gas-powered automobile, but not every carmaker agrees. Hyundai will sit out the pure-electric car round, and instead concentrate its efforts on designing the next-generation hydrogen fuel cell vehicle. As part of a decision by the Hyundai-Kia Automotive Group, Hyundai--which owns 51 percent of Kia--will stop all efforts to develop and produce electric vehicles, according to Korean newspaper The Chosun Iblo. The auto manufacturer previously planned to produce the all-electric BlueOn, but it has shelved those plans and instead will focus on developing the Tucson ix Fuel Cell Electric Vehicle....

Just the Facts: The Kia GT Concept, a 390-horsepower rear-wheel-drive sedan with suicide doors, was unveiled at the 2011 Frankfurt Auto Show. It showcases the Korean automaker's ambitions, with Kia's chief designer declaring, "It's exactly the kind of car Kia should be making." Power comes from a 3.3-liter turbocharged V6 engine linked to an eight-speed automatic transmission. FRANKFURT, Germany — The Kia GT Concept, a 390-horsepower rear-wheel-drive sedan with suicide doors, was unveiled at the 2011 Frankfurt Auto Show. It showcases the Korean automaker's ambitions, with Kia's chief designer declaring, "It's exactly the kind of car Kia should be making."...

KABUL, Afghanistan — Insurgents shot down a NATO Chinook helicopter during an overnight operation in eastern Afghanistan, killing 37 people on board, a military official said on Saturday.

President Obama praised the sacrifice of 31 U.S. troops who died early Saturday morning in helicopter crash in Wardak Province, Afghanistan. The Taliban has claimed it shot down the aircraft with a rocket-propelled grenade. Seven Afghan soldiers on board the helicopter also died. My thoughts and prayers go out to the families and loved ones of the Americans who were lost earlier today in Afghanistan,” Obama said in a statement. “Their deaths are a reminder of the extraordinary sacrifices made by the men and women of our military and their families, including all who have served in Afghanistan.” Obama said...

WASHINGTON -- The Associated Press has learned that more than 20 Navy SEALs from the unit that killed Osama bin Laden were among those lost in a helicopter crash in Afghanistan. Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/world/2011/08/06/afghan-president-31-americans-killed-in-helicopter-crash/#ixzz1UGZcWiEh

Twenty-five U.S. special forces killed early Saturday in Afghanistan were on a mission to rescue another team of military personnel pinned down by insurgents, a U.S. military official told CNN. The helicopter that went down in eastern Afghanistan carried 30 U.S. military members, including 22 Navy SEALs and three other special forces. They were part of a "quick reaction force" sent in to pick up others engaged in a fierce firefight, the official said. In the single deadliest incident since the start of the decade-long Afghan war, the Army Chinook carrying a team of U.S. special forces and U.S. and...

This week deadly armed clashes near Burma’s border with China ended a nearly two-decade-old ceasefire between the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) and Burma’s government. About 10,000 people have fled to refugee camps along the Chinese border and 215 Chinese workers from the Datang United Hydropower Developing Co. returned home after the KIA captured a Chinese-built and operated hydropower plant last week. A KIA spokesperson told the Thailand-based Irrawaddy that the uprising began when the government reneged on an agreement to share electricity generated from the region’s Chinese-built hydropower plants with local people. “This electricity is now going to China, not...

Standing before a flag-draped casket and hundreds of mourners gathered in West Jefferson High School’s auditorium Saturday, the Rev. Joseph Hampton, pastor of St. Mark Baptist Church in Gretna, confronted one of the most difficult sermons of his life with lyrical passion and intensity.He delivered the eulogy for his stepson, Daniel "P-Nut" Douville, a Harvey native and Air Force technical sergeant who died in a bomb blast June 26 in Afghanistan and was buried with military honors Saturday at Westlawn Memorial Park in Gretna. It was, Hampton said, a death "in the line of duty," far removed from the "senseless...

BAGHDAD -- A roadside bomb killed two U.S. soldiers Thursday outside the main American military base in Baghdad in what U.S. officials said appeared to be another attack by Shiite militias hoping to drive U.S. troops out of Iraq. The attack follows the deadliest month for U.S. troops in Iraq in two years. Fifteen U.S. soldiers died in June, nearly all in attacks by Shiite militias. ----- Thursday's bomb, which was detonated near a checkpoint outside Victory Base Camp, was a powerful armor-piercing explosive known as an EFP, according to two military officials with knowledge of the attack. EFPs typically...

ANNOUNCING Australia's 28th combat death in Afghanistan today, defence chief General David Hurley admitted it was reasonable to ask whether too much is being asked of the Special Operations Task Group. Totalling just over 300 personnel, the SOTG includes men and women drawn from the Commando, Special Air Service and Incident Response regiments. At 35 years of age, commando Sergeant Todd Langley was a veteran who had served on five combat tours of Afghanistan and two operational deployments to East Timor. Sergeant Langley was shot in the head during a firefight with Taliban insurgents during a counter-insurgency operation in...

A new Kia ad is raising eyebrows-with some even saying that it promotes pedophilia. The ad, which promotes a dual-zone climate control feature in one of Kia's cars, took home the Silver Press Lion at the prestigious Cannes Lion Awards. But it is controversial, to say the least. The ad features a teacher lusting after his elementary school-aged student. On one side of the page, she appears as a young girl. On the other side, though, she becomes a scantily clad, buxom teen, seemingly as a product of the teacher's imagination.

Let's show our appreciation to Devin and her family.

TO SEE THE LIST OF BRAVE MEN AND WOMEN WHO HAVE GIVEN THEIR LIVES SINCE JANUARY 20TH, 2009, CLICK HERE. Remember how very important the liberals and Bush-haters thought it was to tell us every day how many soldiers had died “Because of him?” They chanted their stupid “Bush Lied! People Died” and marked each “milestone” in the death count with news releases and celebrations. Each time the number grew, it gave them more “ammo” and hatred for President Bush. 3/6/9 UPDATE: Some of them continue their Bush Death Counts to this day! UPDATE 10/19/9: Rush Limbaugh said on his...

            Memorial Day, originally called Decoration Day, is a day of remembrance for those who have died in our nation's service. There are many stories as to its actual beginnings, with over two dozen cities and towns laying claim to being the birthplace of Memorial Day. There is also evidence that organized women's groups in the South were decorating graves before the end of the Civil War: a hymn published in 1867, "Kneel Where Our Loves are Sleeping" by Nella L. Sweet carried the dedication "To The Ladies of the South who are Decorating the Graves of...

Black Jack Logan and Memorial Day Monday, May 30, 2011 A.D. | Author Donald R. McClarey Freedom is not only a gift, but also a summons to personal responsibility. Americans know this from experience — almost every town in this country has its monuments honoring those who sacrificed their lives in defense of freedom, both at home and abroad. Pope Benedict, April 16, 2008John A. Logan is the father of Memorial Day. Today he is largely forgotten except to Civil War buffs and that is a shame. He was a fascinating man and he is largely responsible for establishing...