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            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...

Thousands of motorcycles poured into the D.C.-area today for Rolling Thunder, an annual event drawing motorcycle enthusiasts from across the country. The massive collection of motorcycle riders is descending on Washington in memory of the thousands of prisoners of war and soldiers missing in action from the Vietnam War.

Forty-three years ago this month, U.S. Army Spc. 4 James Leslie Moreland vanished during a fierce battle at Lang Vei, South Vietnam. He would later be awarded a Silver Star for heroism that night and be promoted to sergeant first class while listed as MIA – missing in action. Now, his remains positively identified using DNA from five family members, the Green Beret medic is coming home. Sisters Linda Brown of Puyallup and Edna Anita LeMoine of Olympia and brother Donald Moreland of Lakeside, Calif., are relieved, grateful, tearful. “I’ve never given up, and I’m so thankful that after all...

SYNOPSIS: Microbiologist Thomas Butler faces 69 criminal charges in federal court, including lying to the FBI about 30 vials of plague bacteria that went missing from his laboratory at Texas Tech. If convicted on all counts, he could be fined $17 million and be sentenced to up to 469 years in prison. Allies in the scientific community say that Butler is the victim of prosecutorial overkill. But the government says Butler broke rules designed to protect the nation against bioterrorism. Observers say the outcome could have a big impact on life science researchers working with potentially dangerous agents. ***** It...

STORYMIAMI INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT (WSVN) -- A man has been arrested after, officials said, he caused a security scare at a South Florida airport. On Jan. 11, Miami-Dade Police officers stopped Oluwole Aboyade in the Dolphin parking garage at MIA after he reportedly began taking pictures of sensitive areas at the airport. According to a Miami-Dade Police report, an officer said he became alarmed when he saw Aboyade taking pictures of buildings, surveillance cameras, airport runways and restricted areas. When the police approached the Nigerian national, he said he would remain silent. The police report read, "Mr. Aboyade was observed walking...

The Department of Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office announced Jan. 12 that the remains of two servicemen, missing in action from the Vietnam War, have been identified and returned to their families for burial with full military honors. Air Force Col. James E. Dennany, 34, of Kalamazoo, Mich., and Maj. Robert L. Tucci, 27, of Detroit, will be buried as a group Jan. 14, in the Dallas-Ft. Worth National Cemetery. On Nov. 12, 1969, Colonel Dennany and Major Tucci were flying the No. 3 aircraft of three F-4Ds escorting an AC-130 gunship on a night strike mission over Laos. After the...

(Dec. 8) -- A new video containing footage of the only American soldier held captive by the Taliban for almost 18 months has been released on the Internet. Pfc. Bowe Bergdahl of Ketchum, Idaho, was 23 when he disappeared from his combat outpost in Afghanistan's southeastern Paktika province and was last seen in a video released in April. Images from the new footage, released Tuesday, show the soldier wearing an open-necked tan shirt, with a wound just below his left eye. Previous videos showed Bergdahl with a beard, but he appears clean-shaven with tightly cropped hair in the latest release....

One man is in custody and Miami International Airport is back open this morning after a suspicious device caused a major evacuation and shutdown Thursday night. The security scare happened just after 9 p.m., when a baggage screener spotted a suspicious item in a checked piece of luggage in the Customs area. -snip- A video of what is believed to be part of the suspicious device showed a silver canister, though police haven't confirmed what was found. Police also haven't released the identity of the man taken into custody, but airport officials said he had been on a flight from...

Sep 3, 2010 2:20 AM CDT - A passenger has been arrested after something suspicious in his checked luggage triggered a shutdown of Miami International Airport last night. Four of six terminals and airport roadways have been closed,

<p>KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — A senior U.S. military official and Afghan officials say the body of a second U.S. sailor who went missing in a dangerous part of eastern Afghanistan has been recovered.</p> <p>The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to disclose the information, says the family of Petty Officer 3rd Class Jarod Newlove — a 25-year-old from the Seattle area — has been notified of his death.</p>

BOISE, Idaho - In the minutes after Pfc. Bowe Bergdahl was reported missing last June, his U.S. Army comrades in southern Afghanistan began searching bunkers, latrines, vehicles, even Afghan National Police posts in a nearby settlement. About five hours later, search dogs were on the ground. Meanwhile, radio operators were already intercepting messages indicating the worst: One of their own was in enemy hands. These details are from leaked military documents about the war in Afghanistan that provide an unvarnished, eight-day window into the U.S. Army's hectic search for an Idaho Soldier captured by the Taliban.

Summary. In the early 1990s, during the tenure of the Senate Select Committee on POW-MIAs, a witness appeared who told a story about US POWs from the Korean and Vietnam Wars. Major General Jan Sejna, a defector who had fled from Czechoslovakia to the US in 1968, claimed that he knew of a program whereby US POWs from Korea and Vietnam were used in medical experiments in Korea, Russia, and Czechoslovakia. Sejna's story was made more believable by the fact that he had served for years as a consultant to the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), a position he still held...

Rappers in 2010 don’t know what the ‘F’ to do. They are being let down by the first president they actually went to the voting polls for, and they are speechless. In fact, their silence is consent. Isn’t it great to know that of all presidents, Obama is the one who finally shut these foul-mouthed-usually-criminals the hell up! Ha! Gotta love that! Sometimes (OK – most of the time), I just can’t help wishing that musicians would shut up about politics. Either they stand blindly behind a disaster like Obama (Paul McCartney, Jimmy Buffet, and way too many others) out...

A local man has dedicated his life, and life savings, to finding the bodies of soldiers missing from World War II. Now all that searching has paid off big time. Bryan Moon lives in Randolph, Minn. and started the group MIA (Missing In Action) Hunters. The group recently made a huge discovery in Papua New Guinea, where it's believed that hundreds of World War II MIA soldiers will soon be recovered. "There are still 76,000 Americans missing in World War II and World War II has been over 65 years. You can't leave them there forever… they've got to come...

Before a small group of family and friends, the remains of World War I United States Marine First Sergeant George H. Humphrey were buried at Arlington National Cemetery on June 23, 2010. He received full military honors. Humphrey went Missing In Action on September 15, 1918, while leading the first United States attack of the war against the Germans, under the direction of General John J. Pershing. The battle was later recognized as the St. Mihiel Offensive. During this combat, 7,000 allies died. Consequently, this war coined the phrase "D-Day," and was the first time American units used tanks. First...

SUITLAND, Md. (AP) -- A private researcher who has labored for years to identify the remains of U.S. service members declared missing in action during World War II says he has matched seven MIAs with the remains of unknowns and he expects to match as many as 19 more within a week......

President Barack Obama quietly breached years of protocol on Saturday morning by leaving the White House without the press with him. About two hours before reporters were supposed to be in position to leave with the president, Obama left the grounds of the White House. Members of the press were told he was attending one of his daughter's soccer games in northwest Washington, D.C. The White House press corps traditionally travels with the president anywhere he goes, inside and outside the country, to report on the president's activities for the benefit of informing the public and for historical record.

Following months of heated public debate and aggressive closed-door negotiations, Congress finally cast a historic vote on healthcare late Sunday evening. It was truly a sad weekend on the House floor as we witnessed further dismantling of the Constitution, disregard of the will of the people, explosive expansion of the reach of government, unprecedented corporate favoritism, and the impending end of quality healthcare as we know it. Those in favor of this bill touted their good intentions of ensuring quality healthcare for all Americans, as if those of us against the bill are against good medical care. They cite fanciful...

When former President George W. Bush addresses the Economic Club of Grand Rapids in June, will he be riding a wave of nostalgia? New York Times columnist Stanley Fish points to a few signs that Bush's image rehab has begun. One literally is a sign -- a billboard in Minnesota with an image of a smiling, waving Bush and a message that reads, "Miss Me Yet?" He also notes a Newsweek cover story that vindicates Bush's Iraq policy, "Mission Accomplished" and everything. Fish writes that Bush nostalgia, if it indeed exists, is the result both of Bush's relative silence since...