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TOKYO, Japan (AP) -- A U.S. Marine who was accused of raping a 14-year-old girl in southern Japan has been released after prosecutors dropped the charges at the teenager's request, the Foreign Ministry said Friday. Staff Sgt. Tyrone Luther Hadnott, 38, was arrested on Feb. 10 on suspicion of raping the girl on the southern island of Okinawa, fueling nationwide furor over crimes involving American troops in Japan. Hadnott was released Friday night after the girl withdrew her criminal complaint against him, said Ryo Fukahori, a Foreign Ministry official in charge of Japan-U.S. security. Rape charges in Japan can be...

TOKYO -- The Japanese prime minister has described the alleged rape of a 14-year-old girl by an American Marine as "unforgivable." The foreign minister declared that Japan has "had enough" of such incidents. And the government's most senior Cabinet official promised that Japan would raise the issue of misconduct with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice when she visits next week. Few events have animated the top levels of government recently as much as the alleged rape this month on Okinawa Island, which has a large U.S. military presence that has long been a source of tension with residents. Senior Japanese...

NAHA (Kyodo) Police in Okinawa Prefecture arrested a 38-year-old U.S. Marine on Monday on suspicion of raping a 14-year-old local girl, sparking stern protest from both central and local government officials against the United States and the U.S. military. The suspect is identified as Tyrone Hadnott, a staff sergeant who belongs to the Camp Courtney base in the southernmost Japanese prefecture. He has denied raping the girl, saying he only forced her down and kissed her, the police said. According to investigators, Hadnott is suspected of raping the schoolgirl inside a car parked on a street in the town of...

TOKYO, Japan (CNN) -- A U.S. Marine based on Okinawa has been arrested in connection with the reported rape of a 14-year-old Japanese girl, the island's police force said Monday. Police said the assault was reported Sunday night in the Chanton entertainment district on Okinawa, a major hub for U.S. forces in the Pacific. The 38-year-old American was arrested shortly after the report, police said.

Sgt. Jaimi Diaz, a dog handler with Task Force Military Police, poses for a photograph with her dog, Darrah. Diaz is currently the kennel master in Al Qaim, Iraq, and is running patrols with 1st Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment. CAMP GANNON, Iraq (Nov. 05, 2007) -- CAMP GANNON, Iraq — Operation Iraqi Freedom has called on Marines from different military occupational specialties to serve on the frontlines with infantry units. One Long Island, N.Y., native is guiding them on patrols with her dog, Darrah. Sgt. Jaimi Diaz, the Al Qaim kennel master, Task Force Military Police, is currently working...

Just saw this on National live Japanese TV a few minutes ago. Our mouths dropped open in partial disbelief, but also with a cynical sense of "well, there they go again".The Japanese Government announced tonight that they are instructing all Japanese textbook publishing companies who produce history books for school children, to specifically take out an reference to "Japanese Imperial Army forcing Okinawa civilians to commit mass suicide during the Okinawa Campaign". This, however, is a historic truth, and well documented by the American military forces and Japanese/Okinawan survivors and eyewitnesses. It is history. But now the current Japanese...

I am tired of Democrats saying they are patriotic and then insulting my commander in chief... I am tired of Democrats who tell me they support me, the soldier on the ground, and then tell me the best plan to win this war is with a “phased redeployment” (liberal-speak for retreat) out of the combat zone to someplace like Okinawa. I am tired of senior officers and commanders who fight this war with more of an eye on the media than on the enemy, who desperately needs killing. I am tired of the decisions of Sergeants and Privates made in...

Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), in line to become Speaker in January, is throwing her support to Rep. John Murtha (D-Pa.) in the race for Majority Leader, a move that will be an early test of her influence and will weigh heavily on Murtha's contest with Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) for the post. Pelosi, in a letter distributed Sunday to newly elected House Democrats, wrote that Murtha's outspoken opposition to the war in Iraq helped change the electoral campaign for the House this fall. Murtha began calling for a U.S. pullout from Iraq a year ago, and his open opposition to...

Hawaii Reporter Freedom to Report Real News White House Chief of Staff Slams Democratic Senator Letter to U.S. Senator Reid Sent on the President's Behalf Re: War in Iraq By Joshua B. Bolten, 9/5/2006 8:36:24 PM Dear Senator Reid: Thank you for your September 4 letter to the President. I am responding on his behalf. A useful discussion of what we need to do in Iraq requires an accurate and fair-minded description of our current policy: As the President has explained, our goal is an Iraq that can govern itself, defend itself, and sustain itself. In order to achieve this...

CAMP GONSALVES, Japan - Lt. Col. Zene Fearing likes having guests on his 20,000 acres of jungle. He has a lot to show off - wild pigs, poisonous snakes, exotic bugs. There are also booby traps, a mock village and nearly two dozen helicopter landing zones. This remote Marine Corps camp on the northern tip of Japan's Okinawa Island is the only U.S. jungle warfare training center, and plans for stepping up its operations are coming at a significant time. While recent images of Americans in battle have focused on the deserts and mountains of Afghanistan, President Bush's decision to...

Former Marine who sparked Okinawa furor is dead in suspected murder-suicide Abduction and rape recharged opposition to U.S. bases in late 1990s By David Allen, Stars and Stripes Pacific edition, Friday, August 25, 2006 CAMP FOSTER, Okinawa — Almost 11 years after the crime that recharged opposition to U.S. bases here, a former Marine convicted in the abduction and rape of an Okinawa schoolgirl is believed to have killed a Georgia woman before committing suicide in her apartment. Kennesaw, Ga., police spokesman Mike Brock told Stars and Stripes on Wednesday that Kendrick Ledet, 31, of Smyrna, Ga., was discovered dead...

US to double anti-missile ships in Pacific Reuters News, Wed Aug 16, 2006 By Jim Wolf HUNTSVILLE, Alabama (Reuters) - The United States, concerned about North Korea, will double to six by the end of the year the number of its ships in the Pacific capable of shooting down enemy ballistic missiles, the head of the Pentagon missile-defense project involved said on Wednesday. "I think it gives the nation more options," Rear Adm. Alan Hicks, program manager for Aegis ballistic missile defense, told reporters here after speaking to a conference on the fledgling U.S. shield. In coming years, a growing...

"Off base?" Since when is the truth "Off base"?It would appear that some PA newspapers will go to any length to protect their darling, John Murtha. Up to and including not only calling a spade a spade, but calling anything a spade! This from the Towanda, PA Daily & Sunday Review: Sherwood off base with ugly criticism of opponent’s backerRepublican Congressman Don Sherwood’s rebuke of his Democratic colleague, Rep. John Murtha — who, in the Scranton area Thursday, renewed his criticism of President Bush’s handling of the Iraq war — was an uncalled-for low blow. In a statement released...

Typhoon Ewiniar forecast to hit South Korea on Monday By Dave Ornauer, Stars and Stripes Pacific edition, Sunday, July 9, 2006 CAMP FOSTER, Okinawa — Like a slow-moving predator, Typhoon Ewiniar continued tracking further northwest on Friday and appeared as if it would spare U.S. bases in southwestern Japan much of its bite. But the fourth storm of the northwest Pacific’s typhoon season remained a threat to Okinawa and put another target squarely in its crosshairs: the Korean peninsula. The Joint Typhoon Warning Center forecast Ewiniar would graze Okinawa to its west late Saturday, then make landfall along Korea’s west...

A Japanese museum has obtained a rare photo of Japan's World War Two battleship the Yamato shortly before it departed for the East China Sea, where it was sunk by US warplanes. The aerial photo was taken by a US reconnaissance plane on April 6, 1945, off Tokuyama in Yamaguchi prefecture, western Japan, five hours before the Yamato made its final sortie. The Yamato Museum in Kure City, Hiroshima Prefecture, recently obtained a digital image of this photo, which is stored in the US National Archives in Washington. The Yamato, the world's largest-ever battleship, sank on its way to Okinawa...

Don't miss Jack Kelly's column on the Congressman he dubs "Pennsylvania's embarrassment." The column tracks the points we've been making here about Mad Jack Murtha's proposed "redeployment" of the American forces in Iraq to Okinawa, but Kelly makes these points with a special gusto. Here's the beauty part: Mr. Murtha has been recommending redeployment to Okinawa ever since his rebirth as a dove last year, so what he said on "Meet the Press" was no slip of the tongue. Let us be clear about the Murtha "strategy." It is insane. It would be easier to defend Germany from Chicago; Alaska...

Rep. Jack Murtha (D-Pa), imagines himself to be the scourge of the hawks in the Bush administration. Many journalists do, too, because they keep inviting him to appear on talk shows. So why were the targets of Mr. Murtha's wrath doubled over with laughter during his appearance last Sunday on NBC's "Meet the Press?" Rep. Murtha's newfound fame is a product of his call for immediate withdrawal from Iraq, or in the dishonest way he likes to phrase it, "redeployment" from Iraq. Host Tim Russert asked Mr. Murtha to respond to a question White House political guru Karl Rove had...

Ian's got the video of Murtha on Meet The Press. Transcript here. After criticizing Karl Rove's "fat backside," Murtha put forth his fat-headed Okinawa plan: MR. RUSSERT: You say redeploy. Again, Mr. Rove challenges that comment. Let’s listen and give you again a chance to respond to the White House. (Videotape, Monday): MR. ROVE: Congressman Murtha said, “Let’s redeploy them immediately to another country in the Middle East. Let’s get out of Iraq and go to another country.” My question is, what country would take us? What country would say after the United States cut and run from Iraq, what...

TOKYO (AP) - Top Japanese officials on Wednesday expressed shock at a U.S. estimate that put the price tag for the planned reshuffling of U.S. forces in Japan at $26 billion or more. "My impression is that's an incredibly huge amount of money," Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe told a news conference, saying he couldn't comment further because he wasn't aware of the details. "Where did you get that number? Don't tell me groundless stories," a shocked-looking Foreign Minister Taro Aso earlier said on TV Asahi. "We shouldn't overreact over one official's estimate." Japan and the United States are negotiating...

The United States and Japan have struck a bargain over a plan to realign U.S. forces in Japan, with Japan agreeing to pay $6 billion of the $10 billion cost, the Japanese defense chief said Sunday night. Japanese Defense Minister Fukushiro Nukaga told reporters after his three-hour meeting with Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld that Japan wanted to have an appropriate sharing of costs in transfering 8,000 Marines from Okinawa to the Pacific island of Guam. Nukaga said that both sides agreed that the Japan-U.S. alliance is important, not only for Japan but also for the region. The United States...

TOKYO: Thousands of protesters gathered on Sunday on the southern Japanese island of Okinawa to rally against plans to relocate a US air base there, with reports saying the protesters numbered as many as 35,000. Holding placards demanding the immediate closure of the base and its relocation off the island, about 35,000 people took part in the rally in Ginowan, Kyodo News and public broadcaster NHK reported. “The city of Ginowan strongly demands that Futemma, the world’s most dangerous base, be shut down immediately and relocated outside of Japan,” Ginowan Mayor Yoichi Iha was quoted as saying in the Kyodo...

Japan offers U.S. a loan to pay for troop moves Posted: February 23, 2006 The idea of getting US Marines off Okinawa sooner rather than later has reportedly triggered a Japanese offer to front the costs, but on a loan basis. An agreement last Fall called for 7,000 Marines to relocate from the island to Guam, but the $8 billion price tag has caused Japanese lawmakers to blanche. Now, reports circulating through the Japanese capitol suggest the central government will offer to loan the United States the money necessary to make the moves happen quickly. The United States has steadfastly...

Staff sergeant acquitted of rape in Okinawa court-martial GI gets 90 days, reduction in rank for adultery, break-in By David Allen, Stars and Stripes Pacific edition, Thursday, December 15, 2005 CAMP FOSTER, Okinawa — An Army staff sergeant was sentenced to 90 days’ confinement and reduced to the rank of E-5 on Tuesday after a court-martial panel found him guilty of housebreaking and adultery for having sex with a private first class. Staff Sgt. Kelvin Stanfield, 33, assigned to the 10th Area Support Group, smiled and shook the hands of the noncommissioned officers from his unit who sat in the...

TACOMA, Wash. - Robert Eugene Bush, who received a Medal of Honor for bravery in tending to the wounded while under enemy fire at Okinawa, has died at age 79. Bush was one of Washington state's last living recipients of the Medal of Honor, the nation's highest military honor, from World War II . He died Tuesday. Former NBC News anchor Tom Brokaw, who wrote about Bush in his best-seller "The Greatest Generation," left a voicemail for the family after hearing the news. "He was one of my very favorite people," Brokaw said. "He was a great man. He was...

More than just a branch of America’s armed forces, the modern U.S. Marine Corps serves as a model that other military forces worldwide have attempted to emulate, with varying degrees of success. Marines are aware of this, and justifiably proud. But that pride has not always been conducive to working and playing well with others.

US moves Okinawa air base to heal rift By Colin Joyce in Tokyo (Filed: 27/10/2005) The United States agreed yesterday to move an air base into another military site on the Japanese island of Okinawa in a climbdown aimed at reducing friction between the US military and locals. Okinawans, whose small, southern island houses more than half the 50,000 US troops stationed in Japan, have long protested about the disruption to daily life caused by the heavy military presence. The Futenma air base will now be relocated to Camp Schwab Washington and Tokyo agreed to move the Futenma air base...

ITOMAN, OKINAWA, Japan (Aug. 15, 2005) -- Twenty-six students from 3rd Material Readiness Battalion, 3rd Force Service Support Group's corporals course volunteered their time to make some improvements at Tai Chu En orphanage Aug. 2. The Marines painted a mural of a landscape on a wall that is 6 feet tall and 35 feet long, cleared a 6 feet wide strip of sugar cane from the wall with gas-powered trimmer garden tools and played with the orphans. The orphanage has more than 100 residents and was established 23 years ago. It is named after a Buddhist monk who brought Buddhism...

I have always despised authors who write books outing dead people who can’t defend themselves. I feel the same way about the books that come out every August castigating President Truman for the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Once again, let’s review some facts. Truman was facing intelligence estimates that an invasion of Japan would cost a million American and many more than a million Japanese casualties. These estimates were based on known plans of Japanese defenders and the bloody results of the invasions of Iwo Jima and Okinawa. Okinawa, a home island of Japan, resulted in more than...

Thursday, July 21, 2005 at 04:00 JST TOKYO — U.S. Ambassador to Japan Thomas Schieffer said Wednesday the United States may agree with Japan to decrease U.S. troops in Okinawa Prefecture and other areas in Japan as long as deterrence in the region surrounding Japan is maintained. "We can reduce the number of troops that are stationed here and I think we can change the footprint of how they are deployed," Schieffer told a press conference, regarding the ongoing bilateral consultations on the planned realignment of U.S. forces in Japan. (Kyodo News)

Live-fire training begins at controversial new Camp Hansen range By Chiyomi Sumida and Fred Zimmerman, Stars and Stripes Pacific edition, Friday, July 15, 2005 CAMP FOSTER, Okinawa — The U.S. Army began live-fire training Tuesday at a newly built urban-warfare complex on Camp Hansen, drawing strong protests from local officials and residents. Okinawa Gov. Keiichi Inamine criticized the military and Tokyo government, which gave its consent to the training at Range 4, located about 328 yards from the Igei community of Kin. “What it means to forcibly conduct the training without ensuring safety of residents is that the Japanese government,...

OKINAWA CITY, Okinawa – Reports that a Kadena airman molested an Okinawan schoolgirl Sunday complicate force realignment talks on the island, officials said Tuesday. Staff Sgt. Armando Valdez, 18th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron, Kadena Air Base, has been detained by Japanese police since Sunday morning, accused of photographing and touching a 10-year-old girl’s breast. Senior city and base officials expressed concerns Tuesday that the incident came at a highly inopportune time. It occurred "when residents are on edge" about rumors that Marine Corps Air Station Futenma units would move to Kadena Air Base, said Hideo Uehara, Okinawa City’s planning department director....

U.S. won't cut troop levels in OkinawaThe Yomiuri Shimbun The United States, citing a possible surprise assault on Taiwan by China's special forces as a realistic scenario, has told Japan it will be difficult to reduce or relocate to the Japanese mainland any of its marine corps combat units stationed in Okinawa, government sources said Wednesday. Washington has made this position on the marines in Okinawa known to the Japanese side through bilateral talks including consultations over the realignment of U.S. troops and their bases in Japan, the sources said. The United States has about 18,000 marines stationed in Okinawa....

CAMP KINSER, Okinawa — A Marine officer received the bronze star with a combat “V” for his leadership in Iraq at the Kinser Surfside on Friday in front of several dozen of his fellow Marines. Maj. Rick Brown received the medal for his leadership as executive officer of the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit’s Service Support Group 31, which returned from Iraq in recent months after duty in some of the nation’s toughest areas. “He is the type of officer who will give of himself [and] doesn’t think of himself,” said Brig. Gen. Frank Panter, commander of the 3rd Force Service...

Almost 24,000 people surrounded Marine Corps Air Station Futenma here Sunday, forming a 6.8-mile human chain to demand the air base close. The event was part of a weekend of peaceful anti-base actions to mark the 33rd anniversary of Okinawa’s return to Japan after 27 years of post-World War II U.S. occupation. Also staged Sunday: three protest marches across the island with brief rallies in front several U.S. military bases and a mass afternoon rally at the Ginowan Convention Center. MCAS Futenma sits in the middle of urban Ginowan. Japan and the United States agreed in 1996 to close the...

A panel chartered by Congress to advise on redeployments of U.S. forces abroad is questioning the wisdom of reducing the number of troops on Japan's Okinawa island at a time of strategic uncertainties in the region. In a report released Monday, the Overseas Basing Commission recommended that U.S. Marines at one Okinawan base, the Futenma Marine Corps Air Station, should be moved -- either to another U.S. base on the island, or to one located on Honshu, Japan's main island. Apart from Futenma, however, all other Marine Corps assets on Okinawa should remain there. "Okinawa is the strategic linchpin to...

The Washington Timeswww.washingtontimes.com Life and death aboard a tin canBy Robert H. Spiro Jr.Published April 6, 2005          Friday, April 6, 1945, is a day emblazoned in my memory. Sixty years ago today, off Okinawa in the East China Sea, a Japanese kamikaze plane crashed into the port side of my destroyer (called by sailors a "tin can"), penetrating the hull and exploding on the starboard side of the ship, the USS Morris. The bow was almost severed from the ship, and the explosion was catastrophic. When it was over, 24 men were dead and 44 wounded, almost 30...

Protesters greet returning Marines Small demonstration held outside gates of MCAS Futenma By David Allen and Chiyomi Sumida, Stars and Stripes Pacific edition, Sunday, April 3, 2005 David Allen / S&S A father leads his daughters in a protest chant Friday during a demonstration by about 50 people outside Marine Corps Air Station Futenma, Okinawa. The group was protesting the return of U.S. Marines from Iraq. David Allen / S&S A protester holds a sign during Friday's demonstration outside Marine Corps Air Station Futenma on Okinawa. GINOWAN, Okinawa — About 50 protesters gathered outside the Nodake gate to Marine Corps...

Lord, Keep our Troops forever in Your care Give them victory over the enemy... Grant them a safe and swift return... Bless those who mourn the lost. . FReepers from the Foxhole join in prayer for all those serving their country at this time. ...................................................................................... ........................................... U.S. Military History, Current Events and Veterans Issues Where Duty, Honor and Countryare acknowledged, affirmed and commemorated. Our Mission: The FReeper Foxhole is dedicated to Veterans of our Nation's military forces and to others who are affected in their relationships with Veterans. In the FReeper Foxhole, Veterans or their family members should feel...

Sixty years ago, the United States military invaded Okinawa on April 1, 1945, the last bastion of the Japanese maritime empire that stood in the way of an assault on the mainland. Operation Iceberg was perhaps the largest combined land-sea operation since Xerxes swept into Greece, involving more troops than at Normandy Beach — 1,600 ships, 183,000 infantry and 12,000 aircraft. More than 110,000 skilled Japanese troops, commanded by the brilliant Gen. Ushijima and buttressed by another 100,000 coerced Okinawan irregulars, were ready for them. Despite the most terrible naval barrage in history, and an ominous unopposed initial landing, almost...

In the early months of 1945, I joined the USS Wichita, a heavy cruiser, via a Jacob's ladder. I was the ship's newest and greenest ensign. The ship was engaged in beginning the battle for Okinawa. Our duty was to cruise slowly offshore and lob 8-inch and 5-inch shells into Japanese positions on shore to support the Army and Marine landings. In cadet school, I had been trained in communications. Naturally, I was assigned to the gunnery division and placed in command of four batteries of 40 mm. guns located on our fantail. There were also several 20 mm. guns...

KADENA AIR BASE, Okinawa — Sixty Easter Sundays ago, James Beaudet leaned on the railing of a troop ship off Okinawa and watched World War II’s biggest Pacific beach landing go on all around him. “It was quite a show,” the 79-year-old retired engineer said during a recent visit with his granddaughter’s family on Kadena Air Base. Ships stretched to the horizon; smoke from the bombardment blanketed the beaches, he said. “We’d stand at the rail and wonder what was happening down on the beaches and then a kamikaze would come out of nowhere and we’d run to the other...

It is 8:30 a.m. Easter Sunday morning, April 1, 1945. The largest amphibious fleet ever assembled in the Pacific Theater is about to begin the invasion of Ryukyu Island, better known as Okinawa. The event is codenamed Iceberg. It involves 180,000 combat-ready Army and Marine troops, 1,320 ships of all types, the 20th Army Air Force, and the Navy and Marines Tactical Air Force, a total of 548,000 men. I'm an 18-year-old from Wilkinsburg, Pa., an aviation storekeeper striker assigned to an elite group identified as Acorn 29. This group was formed six months earlier and integrated into a Marine...

NAHA, Okinawa — Gov. Keiichi Inamine said Sunday he doesn’t buy the idea that the “burden” Okinawa bears by hosting the bulk of U.S. forces in Japan would be relieved by having the Japanese military take over some of the bases. “If the U.S. military is replaced by the self-defense forces, I would not consider it as reduction,” he said. “I do not mean only the U.S. military when I talk about reduction in the military presence.” About 75 percent of the land in Japan used solely by the U.S. military is on Okinawa. More than half the U.S. troops...

WASHINGTON — Top Okinawa government officials are launching a new campaign in an old fight to get all U.S. Marines off Japan’s southernmost island. Okinawa governor Keiichi Inamine says he is “making a drastic new proposal” to the U.S. and Japanese governments as the two nations are reworking the details of their alliance. The proposal also comes as Pentagon leaders are trying to consolidate existing overseas bases and return tens of thousands of forward-based U.S. troops to American soil. “This is a rare chance and a great opportunity, because the U.S. military is working on its worldwide posture review,” Inamine...

DEADLIEST DAY FOR U.S. TROOPS IN IRAQ Helicopter crash in Iraq also kills a Pearl Harbor sailor Isle families seized by uncertainty Crashes had killed 7 with isle ties Elections may present more dangers Fallen isle soldier honored By Gregg K. Kakesako gkakesako@starbulletin.com In one of the darkest days for Hawaii's military since World War II, 27 Kaneohe Marines and a Pearl Harbor sailor were reported to be among the 31 people killed when a troop helicopter crashed in Iraq yesterday. The news, which President Bush called "very discouraging to the American people," quickly spread through Kaneohe yesterday afternoon, stunning...

NAHA, Japan — Okinawa residents and fishermen on Monday filed a lawsuit demanding the state halt a seabed drilling survey off northern Okinawa for an offshore airport to relocate a U.S. forces air station, due to concerns the drilling will damage the environment. Meanwhile, the Naha Defense Facilities Administration Bureau, which oversees the drilling project, admitted the same day that construction of a foothold for the drilling has damaged corals and reefs at more than 30 locations in the area. The bureau said 2 square meters of live corals were damaged and 8 square meters of reefs were chipped away...

In contrast to the ideals, opinions and feelings of today's "Hollywonk" the real actors of yester-year loved the United States. They had both class and integrity. With the advent of World War II many of our actors went to fight rather than stand and rant against this country we all love. They gave up their wealth, position and fame to become service men & women, many as simple "enlisted men". This page lists but a few, but from this group of only 18 men came over 70 medals in honor of their valor, spanning from Bronze Stars, Silver Stars, Distinguish...

TOKYO Nov 9, 2004 — Japan put its navy on alert Wednesday after an unidentified submarine made a brief incursion into territorial waters near southern Okinawa, a top government official said. The submarine left shortly after it was spotted. A P3C reconnaissance aircraft and destroyer were dispatched to monitor the vessel's movements, Chief Cabinet Secretary Hiroyuki Hosoda said. Defense chief Yoshinori Ono "issued a maritime alert order" after the submarine was spotted near the Sakishima islands in southern Okinawa prefecture (state), Hosoda said. Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi called the incursion "regrettable. It's certainly not a good thing that a submarine...

Translation from Hebrew to English by me The Japanese Government has announced that large naval forces have been called up after an unidentified submarine was discovered in its territorial waters. It is not clear whether it is a submarine which got lost or whether it is a submarine with the goal of attacking Japan.

The Conscientious Objector Released by D'Artagnan Entertainment Before the Vietnam era, Hollywood movies celebrated the heroism of America's fighting men. Films like the Howard Hawks's classic Sergeant York (1941) told Americans the compelling stories of real-life soldiers against the backdrop of their nation's destiny. (Alvin C. York was a hero of World War I.) William Wyler's The Best Years of Our Lives (1946) depicted the lives of several American G.I.s after they returned home. One of the characters in the film, Homer Parrish, a young man who lost his hands during the war and finds it difficult to adjust to...