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Pope Benedict XVI has offered to establish “Personal Ordinariates” within which to care for Anglicans while enabling them to maintain the liturgical and spiritual unique distinctives of their tradition. That is correct, the Roman Catholic Church by way of an “Apostolic Constitution” will provide the process which will allow for Anglican Christians to enter into the full communion of the Catholic Church. The Congregation for the Doctrine of the faith said this in a statement just released: “In this Apostolic Constitution the Holy Father has introduced a canonical structure that provides for such corporate reunion by establishing Personal Ordinariates which...

Jaycee Dugard, two months after resurfacing from 18 years in captivity, has released her first personal statement to People magazine, along with photos of herself as an adult. I'm so happy to be back with my family," she told the magazine. "Nothing is more important than the unconditional love and support I have from them."

Here is a video report on a truly amazing story of a dog that ran off 10 years ago from his Virginia home being found ten years later in - Oklahoma, 1,300 miles away! The dog had a microchip implanted under the skin and the owner was found using Facebook. . . . (VIDEO)

He saw a squirrel the other day in his new back yard in Derby and chased it up a tree. First time he'd ever done that. He hadn't seen squirrels, or trees, in Afghanistan. It was a big moment for ETTy, a black and white mutt that was adopted in Afghanistan in December by 1st Lt. Chris Corman of Derby and some of his Marine buddies Corman, 28, was stationed with about 20 other Marines in Mehtar Lam, halfway between Kabul and Jalalabad. For nine months, they served as an embedded training team with a unit of the Afghan National...

Here are some pics of draft horses doing their thing at the Old Threshers Reunion in Mt. Pleasant, Iowa this last week. It's good to remember how it used to be!

Former Stooges guitarist James Williamson was in the parking lot of his dentist’s office earlier this year when he heard a familiar voice on his cellphone: Iggy Pop. “He asked me if I wanted to play guitar again,” says Williamson, who hasn’t performed a single gig since the Stooges dissolved in 1974. “I was about to take an early retirement from my job in Silicon Valley, so I figured ‘What the hell, let’s do it.’ ” Williamson spent time last month in Los Angeles rehearsing with the Stooges (minus Pop) — bassist Mike Watt, drummer Scott Asheton and saxophonist Steve...

Chief Warrant Officer 3 Heath Wieseler chats with his sister, Sgt. Andrea Wieseler, in a UH-60 Blackhawk helicopter on COB Speicher Aug. 13. Heath and Andrea spent a few days together here after not seeing each other for more than two years. Photo by Rich Kemp, Multi-National Division – South. COB SPEICHER — Deployments usually separate servicemembers from their families. However, for one U.S. Soldier here, it provided the chance to reunite with her brother. Sgt. Andrea Wieseler, a telecommunications sergeant with the 34th Red Bull Infantry Division, hadn't seen her brother, Chief Warrant Officer 3 Heath Wieseler, in more...

The story of the Battle of Gettysburg and 50th Anniversary Reunion would make for a heart-warming and touching TV Historic mini-series or Hollywood movie.

WASHINGTON, July 17, 2009 – At least 59 of the 96 living Medal of Honor recipients are expected to attend the upcoming annual convention of the society named for them. The host committee of the Congressional Medal of Honor Society’s convention, scheduled for Sept. 15 to 19 in Chicago, announced the number in a statement released on the convention Web site, http://cmoh2009chicago.org, noting the unlikelihood of assembling that many recipients of the military’s highest honor at once. Of the 42 million men and women who have served in the military since the award began during the Civil War, only 3,447...

On June 10, the world’s oldest living twins sisters were reunited at age 104. In the tradition of visiting relatives after the spring wheat harvest, the older twin, Cao Daqiao, visited her sister, Cao Xiaoqiao, in Fanjialing Village of Weifang City, Shandong Province. Although both sisters live in Weifang City, they live in different villages and rarely get to see each other. Born in 1905, the sisters are recorded in the Guinness Book of World Records as the world's oldest twins. Since their husbands both had the same last name Liu, last year Guinness named them Qiao Senior and Qiao...

Air Force Master Sgt. Joseph Myers had only one wish while in the desert sands of Iraq: Get home before the end of his daughter's fourth-grade year. It almost didn't happen. Almost. On Thursday, the next-to-last day of class at Randolph Elementary School, the airman's wish came true. An emotional Myers, still dressed in his brown-and-tan fatigues, surprised his daughter in her class, returning from a year in Iraq nine days before his tour ended. Hannah Eschrig's jaw dropped and she began crying as her father lifted her into an embrace. Several minutes passed as the hug continued before Hannah...

CAMP VIRGINIA, Kuwait, May 8, 2009 – If enemies fear one Marine, they now have twice the reason to be afraid. Marine Corps Staff Sgt. Robert I. Johnson, right, and his twin bother, Marine Corps Sgt. Tracey R. Johnson, enjoy a brief reunion on Camp Virginia, Kuwait, April 23, 2009. U.S. Marine Corps photo by Sgt. Michael T. Knight  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. Marine Corps Staff Sgt. Robert I. Johnson and Sgt. Tracey R. Johnson, twin brothers, enjoyed a brief reunion here, far from their small hometown of Albany, La. Robert, currently deployed to Kuwait, met up...

LOS ANGELES - Comedy writer Andrea Wachner hated the idea of going to her 10-year high school reunion so much that she hired a stripper to go instead, and what followed, she says, was a comical study in human nature.

In 1971, the U.S. Air Force offered a checkout in the McDonnell F-4 to Republic F-105 drivers who had completed a 100-mission combat tour and were willing to volunteer for a second tour. I dearly loved the Thud, but with its numbers dwindling due to combat losses, its future was bleak.I checked out in the F-4 at Homestead Air Force Base in Florida and in June arrived at Udorn Royal Thai Air Force Base in Thailand. The usual mission of the 13th Tactical Fighter Squadron was two-ship bombing flights under forward air control in Laos and an occasional reconnaissance escort...

In 1977 in Kansas City, Mo., Richard Brack found what he knew was someone's lost class ring. "I saw a little glimmer out of the corner of my eye and reached down in the gravel and picked it up," Brack said. Brack said he knew it was important to the owner and he wanted to get it back to them. The ring was engraved with the name, "Gladewater High School", the year 1970, and the initials, "DEC." Brack began to search for the owner with the limited information he had. The years passed and Brack still hadn't found the ring's...

A U.S. soldier returning to Fayetteville, N.C., from Afghanistan got a surprise welcome from two dogs he saved from starvation while stationed in the war-torn country. WRAL.com, a FOX affiliate in Raleigh, reports that a charity animal-rescue program run by Internet search engine Dogpile.com reunited Staff Sgt. Daniel Barker with two dogs reportedly rescued by Barker and his fellow soldier, Adam Krause, during their 2008 deployment to Afghanistan. Barker and Krause found the malnourished puppies abandoned on the streets of Afghanistan and brought them back to their military base, where they named them Jack and Emma, the station reports. When...

Ron Wood has confirmed long-standing reports that the Faces are gearing up for a reunion tour next year. “We had a few fantastic rehearsals last week and we’re ready to go,” Wood tells Rolling Stone. “It’s like no time has passed by.” Rod Stewart’s touring bassist Conrad Korsch sat in on bass, replacing original Faces bassist Ronnie Lane who died in 1997. “There’s a lot of guest bass players that want to do it — including Flea,” says Wood. They plan on hitting the road sometime in 2009, though no dates have been set. “We just have to sort out...

Awesome.

Little more than a month ago, I wrote a post about an amazing event in my life -- and that of my son Gary, the precious infant I gave up for adoption when he was just two days old and I was barely sixteen. Now a grown man, Gary and his wife Tami spent a day researching birth records and learned that I was his birth mother. The Blessing caused an amazing reaction throughout the internet. And beyond. Entertainer and song writer Lloyd Marcus, a staunch conservative from the Central Florida area, was inspired to write a pro-life song about...

Army Sgt. Shane M. White and Marine Corps 1st Sgt. Joseph C. Gray visit at Al Asad Air Base, Sept. 25, 2008. Gray is White's father, and the men were seeing each other for the first time in more than a year. U.S. Marine Corps photo by Sgt. Trent M. Lowry. AL ASAD AIR BASE — In a line of Marines from Team Tank, Regimental Combat Team 1, one man stood out in his gray digital uniform as he participated in a combat-marksmanship program shoot. Army Sgt. Shane M. White, 22, an information systems specialist with 4th Psychological Operations Group,...

Fifty years ago, 899 young men gathered in the then-new Naval Academy field house to hear a graduation address by President Dwight D. Eisenhower. After four grueling years of military and academic training, their numbers had dwindled by a quarter,but for those who had survived, promising futures stretched out ahead. [snip] "We're not going out looking for another job, especially one that's as overwhelming as being president of the United States," said Potter, who planned to travel from California to attend the reunion. "Many of us wonder, 'Where does he get the energy to do this?' But those who knew...

40 Years After Capture, USS Pueblo Crew Reunites JERICHO, Vt. — Ralph McClintock expected only a three-week mission when he boarded the USS Pueblo in January 1968. Instead, he and his shipmates became pawns in a Cold War sideshow when North Korea captured the Navy spy ship and imprisoned its 82 crew members. Some still suffer the physical effects of torture or malnutrition they suffered in 11 months of captivity. McClintock is proud of his service as a 24-year-old communications technician and the bonds he made with his crew mates, but that pride is tinged with bitterness. "We were treated...

A reunited trio of World War II veterans recall the night they were seperated, seemingly foreverIt was a miserable January night outside the French village of Rimling, made bleaker by advancing German troops from the 559th and 257th Volks-Grenadier Divisions. Don Hildenbrand's company was pinned down on a ridge about two miles from town, just a grenade toss from the border. Their communications line had been cut and German units had pushed past them on both flanks. "Everybody knew something bad was going to happen, we were badly outnumbered," Hildenbrand recalled Saturday. Sgt. Pete Petracco asked for a volunteer to...

Team members visit a renovated school. Most schools in southern Iraq showed years of neglect so the renovations normally included window and door repair, new lights, bathroom fixtures and painting. Darrow’s six-person FEST-A team started 170 projects, including 49 schools, during four months in 2003. Courtesy photo. FOB KALSU — He was among the first helping rebuild key facilities in southern Iraq shortly after Saddam Hussein’s regime was toppled. This month, Lt. Col. Michael Darrow returned to Iraq on another U.S. Army Corps of Engineers mission. This time he will be the Officer-in-Charge of the Forat Area Office overseeing 42...

SEOUL — Kim Chun-su had to join the army, but he didn’t have to go to Vietnam. Almost four decades ago, Kim, then a soldier doing his mandatory three-year service in the South Korean military, opted to fight in what was even in his country an unpopular war. He wanted to get away from the army’s notoriously abusive officers, who he said would wake soldiers up for no reason and beat them. He also wanted to show his gratitude to the United States for helping South Korea during the Korean War. Kim and most of the 97 South Korean veterans...

We like to think reunions should come in neat, predictable increments of five to ten years. But last week, 82-year-old Bill Gregg was sitting at the airport, waiting for a reunion 63 years in the making. "You think you've seen everything, right?" Gregg says with a laugh. "And then something like this happens." A dangerous mission During World War Two, Gregg was overseas serving as a nosegunner, which meant shoving his 6'1" frame into the tip of a B-24 bomber. It was a precarious position and dangerous job. "You know you're gonna be shot at by somebody," Gregg says. "Seeing...

F-18 pilot returns home to canine friend from Iraqi war zone They spent months in an Iraqi war zone cementing a special bond. Marine Major Brian Dennis greets Nubs early Saturday morning at Camp Pendleton. But after more than a month of being apart, Marine Maj. Brian Dennis began to worry if Nubs the dog would still remember him, especially in a new place like San Diego. Their reunion early Saturday at Camp Pendleton clearly showed otherwise. The 2-year-old old dog, named for his two nubby ears, drenched Dennis' face with doggie kisses and said hello with excited whimpers. “You...

Marine Reunited in San Diego With Dog He Rescued in IraqA San Diego-based Marine major was reunited on Saturday with one of his closest war buddies — a 2-year-old dog named Nubs. Nubs greeted Maj. Brian Dennis at Miramar Marine Corps Air Station when the fighter pilot returned from Iraq. It was the first time the two were together since Dennis' family and close friends helped raise $3,500 to fly the dog to San Diego about a month ago. Nubs wasn't allowed to stay on base in Iraq. Dennis, 36, of St. Pete Beach, Fla., had spotted the mongrel dog...

DALLAS -- Security details at Barack Obama's rally Wednesday stopped screening people for weapons at the front gates more than an hour before the Democratic presidential candidate took the stage at Reunion Arena. The order to put down the metal detectors and stop checking purses and laptop bags came as a surprise to several Dallas police officers who said they believed it was a lapse in security.

MARINE CORPS BASE CAMP LEJEUNE, N.C. (Feb. 15, 2008) -- Families and friends gathered at Goettge Field House, here, to celebrate the return of their Marines and Sailors. The 2nd Marine Logistics Group returned from a successful deployment to the Al Anbar Province. MARINE CORPS BASE CAMP LEJEUNE, N.C. (February 15, 2008) – Families and friends gathered at Goettge Field House, here, to celebrate the return of their Marines and Sailors. The 2nd Marine Logistics Group returned from a successful deployment to the Al Anbar Province. MARINE CORPS BASE CAMP LEJEUNE, N.C. (February 15, 2008) – Families and friends gathered...

As teenage residents of West Berlin during what many consider to be the first battle of the Cold War, Guenther and Gisela Petzold never knew how close the Berlin Airlift came to collapsing. It wasn't until years later, after the couple married and became U.S. citizens, that they learned of the difficulties surrounding the operation and how their neighbor played a critical role in the airlift's success. While the Petzolds didn't get to know retired Gen. T. Ross Milton until the trio met at an Oro Valley affair, they certainly benefited from his actions during the pivotal standoff between the...

FORWARD OPERATING BASE DELTA, Iraq, Jan. 7, 2008 – When two brothers stationed in Iraq couldn’t be home with their families for the holidays, linking up with each other during the season was the next best thing. The Morgan brothers - Brad, left, and Clay – are both U.S. Army engineer officers deployed to Iraq. The brothers were able to reunite during the holidays at Forward Operating Base Delta, Iraq. Photo by Kevin Olsen  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. Coordinating schedules and moving around Iraq isn’t easy, but the Morgan brothers from Union City, Tenn., managed to pull...

SCOTIA -- Nathan Grier had problems in math, problems in science, problems socializing -- problems that, as bad as they were, seemed to disappear the minute he went home to his 2-year-old pit bull, Booger. They were inseparable friends living in Ocala, Fla. Booger accompanied 13-year-old Nathan to the bathroom and shower. They even slept in the same bed, Nathan nestled under the covers, Booger flat on his back, nose pointed, all four legs extended toward the ceiling.It was a perfect relationship.Then it was over.In September, Nathan's mother, Bonnie, who grew up in Schenectady, talked her husband, Steve, into moving...

A U.S. Air Force staff sergeant stationed in Italy received an early Christmas gift on Saturday: her children. After a months-long legal battle with Italian authorities who had removed her children when a neighbor alleged they were being abused, a judge on Saturday dropped all charges against Kris Wylie, clearing the way for the family to be reunited.

The moment she spotted the young woman in the puffy silver jacket, Ginger Mayes screamed her daughter's name and rushed the escalator, oblivious of the other passengers streaming into the baggage-claim area at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport. Zarminah Al-Rabiah stepped off the escalator and into her mother's arms. The women clutched each other in a minutes-long hug, sobbing and then laughing.

Gen. Pace, 2nd platoon reunited Sept. 5, 2007; Submitted on: 09/05/2007 11:10:19 AM ; Story ID#: 200795111019 By Cpl. Ryan Blaich, II Marine Expeditionary Force (FWD) KARMAH, Iraq (Sept. 5, 2007) -- Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Peter Pace, made a unique visit to Marines stationed here, Sept. 4. As far as meetings with four-star generals usually go, this event was much less formal. It seemed more like a gathering of relatives, a way for Gen. Pace to connect the hardened war fighters of today to the heroes of his past. It was evident he saw himself,...

German Longs for Reunion With Her Husband in NK Renate Hong, a 70-year-old German woman who longs to be reunited with her North Korean husband after 46 years, speaks at a news conference in Seoul, Thursday. / Korea Times Photo by Shim Hyun-chul By Sa Eun-young, Lee Ye-ha Staff Reporter, Korea Times Intern A German woman has expressed hope that the upcoming inter-Korean summit will be a breakthrough toward meeting her husband, Hong Ok-geun, 73, who was sent back to North Korea 46 years ago. ``I believe that my long-time desire will come true now that talks between South and...

Brothers of Vietnam's first battle meet Mike Peters, (Bio) mpeters@greeleytribune.com July 30, 2007 Every year or so they meet, not as many of them now, because the years take a toll. But the brothers of the battle still meet, sometimes back east, or out west, and this past weekend, in Milliken, at Frank Knowski's house. These are the men of the Seventh Cavalry, the men of Vietnam, the survivors of the battle in the Ia Drang Valley, South Vietnam, 1965. It was early in that war, before some Americans back home began to hate the soldiers, before the protests and...

The world record for most precipitation in a 72-hour period was shattered this month when the French island of La Réunion recorded 12.9 feet (3.929 meters) of rain. La Réunion is a small island in the South Indian Ocean east of Madagascar. Despite the island's small size--about 30 miles across--it has two tall volcanoes that rise over 8,500 feet in altitude. These volcanoes can squeeze prodigious amounts of rain out of the moist tropical atmosphere when strong winds force this moist air up their flanks. La Réunion already held the world record for a 3-day precipitation event, the 3.24 meters...

U.S. Air Force Col. Stephen C. Ulrich, 285th Area Support Medical Company deputy chief of clinical services, recently reunited with Air Force Staff Sgt. Tiffany Watkins, who he delivered more than 20 years ago. Defense Department photo by Chief Warrant Officer Jim Oliver U.S. Air Force Col. Stephen UlrichU.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. Tiffany Watkins Reunion After 20 Years By Sgt. Kevin McSwainLogistics Support Area Anaconda LOGISTICS SUPPORT AREA ANACONDA, Iraq, March 8, 2007 -- Meeting with the doctor who helped deliver you isn’t an everyday occurrence, especially when the reunion takes place on the other side of the...

Tonight on ABC's "Primetime," Diane Sawyer reunites a group of children born to women widowed on Sept. 11. It's the first time the entire group (children and moms), has been together since Sawyer first featured them in June 2002 - and it's easy to see how the kids, who were all born after Sept. 11, have grown since then. In tonight's special, Sawyer chats with the Sept. 11 widows, and their kids, about how their lives have changed in the intervening five years. She also asks the moms how they've explained Sept. 11 to their children, who are now old...

The Spice Girls have been voted the band most people would like to see get back together. Even though it's been a decade since they burst onto the music scene with the undeniably catchy Wannabe and their Girl Power slogan, the five-some took 17% of the vote in the Yahoo poll. They beat legendary music acts such as The Jam and the Stone Roses to take the top spot. Rock legends Led Zeppelin took second place and The Police came in third. "The Spice Girls' music, like it or loathe it, has that amazing ability to transport the listener straight...

8/1/2006 - LACKLAND AIR FORCE BASE, Texas (AFPN) -- A wide smile broke across Army Sgt. Joe DeLashmutt's face as he spied Maj. Rebecca Lehr across the Wilford Hall Medical Center dining hall. "That's her!" he told his mom in surprise. She saw him at almost the exact same moment. "I couldn't believe it when I saw him," Major Lehr said. "Joe is one of those patients who wove his way into my heart and will remain there forever." The major had been trying to follow the Army National Guard member's progress since helping to break the news to him...

ATLANTA -- Tex was either dog-napped or ran away 2 years ago – just as his owner had returned to Fort Benning from Iraq. Days ago, someone discovered the dog wandering near Lake Lanier in Forsyth County. Now Tex is headed for a reunion with his family – who now live near Lacrosse, Wisconsin. Three-year-old Tex – a rat terrier – has logged lots of miles. He disappeared 2 years ago when his dad, Nick Rabe, had just returned to Fort Benning from duty overseas. “He got back from Iraq and they went on leave to visit us in Wisconsin...

Kohanim, Tribe of Levi to have 'family reunion' Groundbreaking 'Gathering of the Tribe' will include leading researchers and rabbis. Conference is set to take place in Jerusalem in summer 2007 Ynetnews Recent scientific research and DNA testing has shown that today’s descendents of the biblical priesthood known as Kohanim are genetically related. Although the descendents of Aharon, the brother of Moses, have spread throughout the world over the past 3,300 years, the members of this extended family are being invited to participate in the first ‘family reunion’ held since the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem in 70 CE. Participants...

At least four Vietnam veterans who served together in the early days of US involvement in that conflict will reunite at the Dallas/Fort Worth airport this afternoon.One of the men used the internet to locate the others, and has related tearfully how pleased he was to find his old comrades, all Marines of 2/3* who served in and around Phu Bai (sp?) in the 1964-66 timeframe.While they do not seek publicity for its own sake, they have thought that it would make a good human interest story (my words: they said something like "people might like to hear about it")...

U.S. Army 1st. Lt. Michael Miller, platoon leader, 2nd Platoon, Company D, 1-8 Combined Arms Battalion, 3rd Heavy Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, Task Force Band of Brothers, and his father Lt. Col. Jack A. Miller, provost marshal for Victory Base Complex in Baghdad, share some time together atop an M1 Abrams tank at Forward Operating Base O’Ryan. U.S. Army photo U.S. Army 1st Lt. Jack Miller Lt. Col. Michael Miller Father, Son Reunite in Iraqi Desert By Pfc. Paul J. Harris 3rd Heavy Brigade Combat Team BALAD, Iraq, June 2, 2006 — Being separated from family is...

Juli Marciel is getting her high school ring back – 38 years after she thought it had been lost in a Vietnam rice paddy. “All these years I thought it was lost and laying in Vietnam somewhere,” said Marciel, 55, of Ventura. The ring's saga began in Hawaii in 1968, when Marciel gave it to her boyfriend, a young Marine named Dell Stedman, before he shipped out to Vietnam. Their relationship fizzled and, the one time they saw each other after the war, Stedman told her he had lost the ring, which had a surfer on one side and the...

ABOARD USS NASSAU (April 24, 2006) -- As the Marines and sailors of the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit (Special Operations Capable) prepare for the long journey home crossing the Atlantic, one Marine was able to get his homecoming a little early. Cpl. Phillip Ramirez, of Jacksonville, Fla., a squad leader with Weapon’s Co., Battalion Landing Team, 1st Bn., 2nd Marines, got the chance to meet his father during an underway replenishment at sea (unrep). Ramirez’s father, Leonardo, is the chief cook for USNS Patuxent, the Fleet Replenishment Oiler assigned to refuel the Nassau. “I was told a half hour ago...

Much of my teenage years were spent in the San Fernando Valley of California, at that time (the mid-70s) a religious and cultural wasteland. Apart from the outlets described in that article, another appeared; I discovered the Eastern Rites of the Church, and the Orthodox Churches. My father, Guy, first stimulated my interest in this area, as in so many others. His tales of valiant Christians maintaining their faith and traditions under Muslim and Communist domination fired the imagination. My freshman year at Daniel Murphy High School (during our last year in Hollywood, before the move north to suburbia)...