Free Republic

North Korean families who met last month with South Korean relatives from whom they had been separated for years were made by authorities in the North to hand over money they had received in the meetings as gifts, North Korean sources say. The money, described by sources as “loyalty funds,” was given by family members as expressions of gratitude to Pyongyang for allowing the meetings with long-lost relatives to take place, a source in North Hamgyong province, bordering China, told RFA’s Korean Service. “People who participated in the reunion of separated families at [North Korea’s] Mount Kumgang in August have...

My 50th high school reunion is still a month away -- time enough to lose the 10 pounds that have crept back on after a successful diet a few years back. I have a feeling all my classmates are in the same boat. Well, maybe not all. As I look through the pictures of those brave enough to post updates to their graduation photos, there are a few who have remained slim, but most are heavier and almost all grayer, except for the minority, who, like me, color their hair. I don't know that I'll make my goal, and maybe...

A highlight of the reunion was the Confederate Veterans walk on the path of Gen. George Pickett’s charge that was greeted, this time, by a handshake from the Union Veterans.

Happy Fourth of July!May God Bless America.A.R. When the Will defies Fear, When Duty throws the gauntlet down to Fate, When Honor scorns to compromise with Death – That is Heroism. Robert Green Ingersoll______________________Part One of Two On the face of it, they appear to be ordinary old men, going about their daily business, happy to be alive. But they have a story to tell, each and every one of them. They’ll never tell you they weren’t scared. They won’t lie to you that way. They’ll never tell you that it was “nothing”. They were scared to death, and it...

On March 25, 1969, the Marines of Alpha Company, 1st Battalion, 4th Marines, moved through a thick jungle in enemy territory less than a klick from the Laotian border. Their mission was to locate, engage and destroy any enemy position near the company's area of operation. But not long into the patrol, the Leathernecks were soon pinned down by intense enemy fire from a North Vietnamese army position. At the direction of the company commander, the artillery officer called in air support and soon Marine jets dropped napalm and high explosives on the enemy. "We could feel the heat from...

FORT BRAGG, N.C., March 16, 2009 – Spouses of soldiers in the 18th Airborne Corps have a better idea of how to reconnect with their other halves upon redeployment, thanks to the Army’s Battlemind reunion training. “Reunion is not always easy, is it?” Army Chaplain (Col.) Larry McCarty, a Task Force Bragg chaplain, asked at the beginning of the training, which began here March 4. The Army created Battlemind to help soldiers and families adapt to the changes and difficulties that come with redeployment. While the current training here was for spouses, soldiers receive the training immediately before deployments...

The Golden Alumni of Pine Bush NY hold an annual fete for each class that graduated 50 or more years ago. I went to the reunion yesterday.

Somehow, thirty years have slipped by and it's time for my high school reunion. One of the coordinators sent me a list of the top 100 songs from 1978. Here's what I wrote back: Can we just pretend 1978 was not our year? Those really are lame. I had managed to block the lyric "three times a lady" from my mind, until it jumped out at me and stirred up the old motion sickness. I vote for the whole Patsy Cline to Pretenders continuum, with emphasis on classics. This must be why I'm on a farm, enjoying old music and...

FORT HUACHUCA — Darien Enyart was but a babe when his father held him just before he said farewell about a year ago. Wednesday morning, Sgt. James Enyart once again held Darien, who has turned from a wiggling infant to a walking, albeit with tentative steps, child. It was early in the morning when the 40th Signal Battalion noncommissioned officer marched into the Barnes Field House gymnasium with 93 other soldiers of Companies C and B of the 11th Signal Brigade battalion. Waiting in the crowd was his son, held by wife Danica. The boy was held aloft by his...

3rd MAW families welcome Marines, sailors homeSubmitted by: MCAS MiramarStory Identification #: 20053910339Story by Lance Cpl. Skye Jones MARINE CORPS AIR STATION MIRAMAR, Calif. (Mar. 7, 2005) -- Maj. Gen. Keith Stalder, commanding general, 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing, and more than 230 3rd MAW Marines returned home to Miramar March 7 after supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom, completing the unit's longest deployment in its 62-year history. "I'm so excited and relieved that he's finally back. This time hopefully it's for good," smiled Bethany Stalder, the 22-year-old daughter of the 3rd MAW commander. "I'm extremely proud of him and I'm glad...

Pictures from The Gathering The Gathering” reunion of Vietnam transportation veterans will be at Fort Eustis Wednesday-June 15. The Transportation Museum will provide a hospitality room for the veterans to visit and display their memorabilia. “The Gathering” provides the Vietnam veterans an opportunity to return to the home of the Transportation Corps and a chance for current transporters to learn from people who helped write an important chapter in Transportation Corps history. For more information, call 878-2856/1115. The public is invited, and it runs through Sunday, 15 June. If you are in the Hampton Roads area this weekend, and...

Twenty-five years after leaving Harvard College, a large slice of the Class of 1978 gathered last week for a reunion. Of the 1,600 members of the class, more than 670 filed a response to a detailed survey on their lives since graduation. Here are some of the findings: Only one quarter of the respondents regularly attend religious services; 13 and 8 percent declared themselves to be agnostics and atheists, respectively. More than 70 percent earn six figures or greater, but only about a tenth gave more than $10,000 annually to charity. Fifty-three percent identified themselves as Democrats, 13 percent as...

Fred was dead, that's for sure – and had been for at least 20 years. His name was in the deceased classmates column in the booklet that was sent to me back in 1982 by the people who keep track of such things. This unwelcome news was a shocker because Fred Hess and I were good friends all through high school. We were both musicians and spent a lot of time in school music events and countless hours in our bedrooms listening to hi-fis and trying to learn jazz music. Back then, Fred was a student of what was called...