Free Republic

RAMADI, Iraq - The young Marine had just shot a suspected insurgent and was walking back across the villa's rooftop when he keeled over from a terrific thud to the back of his head. A sniper had fired a single, well-aimed bullet that tore through the top of Lance Cpl. Richard Caseltine's helmet, traced a path along the edge of his skull and buried burning bullet fragments in the back of his neck. Less than a minute later, the 20-year-old from Aurora, Ind., was up on his feet — crouching, shaking and miraculously, still alive. "You expect when somebody gets...

Nearly 61 years after surviving a living nightmare, it's still not easy for Adolfo Celaya to talk about what he endured that night in 1945. Celaya, who grew up in Barrio Viejo, was an 18-year-old sailor on the USS Indianapolis. He worked in the ship's belly, where he helped feed oil into the vessel's four giant boilers. But on the night of July 30, Celaya was on the ship's deck in the Philippine Sea with his Tucson buddy, Santos Peña. Two Japanese torpedoes struck the cruiser. The Indy split and sank within 12 minutes, taking 300 of the 1,196 men...

Sago Mine Blast Survivor Leaves Hospital POSTED: 10:11 am EST March 30, 2006 UPDATED: 10:49 am EST March 30, 2006 MORGANTOWN, W.Va. -- Sago Mine survivor Randal McCloy Jr., looking thin and stiff but walking on his own, offered his gratitude Thursday as he was released from a hospital Thursday after almost three months. "I'd just like to thank everybody for their thoughts and prayers" McCloy said softly, wearing a ball cap and a racing-team jacket at a morning news conference. He paused, then added with a weak smile, "I believe that's it." His wife, Anna, who held his hand...

Kindness has been my personal response to terror. My wife, Shoshana, was murdered by a suicide bomber. She was one of over 100 victims who were killed or wounded on August 9, 2001 at the Sbarro restaurant in Jerusalem. Sometimes I wonder whether telling my story can really help others. Since the way I am coping with my tragedy is so different from the norm, would anyone else understand it? Many of the rabbis who came to visit me after it happened told me a story about a carpet. "Sometimes you only see the knots on the back," they said....

This March 4 will mark the 10th anniversary of the suicide bombing outside the popular Dizengoff Shopping Center in downtown Tel-Aviv. In that attack, a suicide bomber detonated a 20-kilogram nail bomb, killing 13 Israelis—including one IDF soldier. Only days ago, Chabad’s Terror Victims Project received a stark reminder of the lasting, traumatic effects of a terrorist attack. Acting on a tip, Rabbi Menachem Kutner, Director of Activities, visited an old Israeli woman in her Tel Aviv apartment. A decade ago, she worked in a clothing boutique at Dizengoff Center. On the fateful day of March 4, 1996, as she...

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Randal McCloy Jr., the lone survivor of the Sago Mine accident, is now able to speak and is eating with assistance. He responds appropriately when asked questions, and is working with speech therapists to improve his articulation. He also has daily sessions of physical and occupational therapy. Some of Mr. McCloy's nutrition is given through a feeding tube into his stomach. According to his wife, the tube likely will be removed in a few weeks.

Hatch convicted of failing to pay income tax in "Survivor" winnings January 25,2006 PROVIDENCE, RI (AP) - "Survivor" star Richard Hatch has been found guilty of not paying federal income tax on the one million dollars he won on the reality T-V show. He was handcuffed and taken into custody because a judge considered him a potential flight risk. Hatch was found guilty on three counts -- including tax evasion. He faces up to 13 years in prison and 600-thousand dollars in fines. Jurors found him not guilty of wire, mail and bank fraud. He had faced ten counts overall....

PROVIDENCE, R.I. - Richard Hatch, the "fat naked guy" who won $1 million in the debut season of the reality show "Survivor," was found guilty Wednesday of failing to pay taxes on his winnings. Hatch was also convicted of evading taxes on $327,000 he earned as co-host of a Boston radio show and $28,000 in rent on property he owned. But he was acquitted of seven bank, mail and wire fraud charges. Jurors deliberated for less than a day after more than a week of testimony. Hatch, 44, of Newport, faces up to 13 years in prison and a fine...

RICHARD Hatch, the much-vilified first winner of the hit US reality television show Survivor, will know in a day if he survived a challenge that could jail him for a lifetime. A jury is expected to decide tomorrow whether the winner of the $US1 million ($1.33 million) jackpot on Survivor on a South Pacific island in 2000 is guilty of tax evasion, bank fraud and other charges filed by the US Attorney's office in Providence, Rhode Island. Prosecutors accuse Hatch, a motivational speaker, of failing to report the $US1 million winnings in 2000 and about $US391,000 he earned from half...

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. (AP) -- The sole survivor of an explosion that killed 12 men at a West Virginia coal mine is responding to simple commands as he continues to emerge from a light coma, doctors said Tuesday. Randal L. McCloy Jr., 26, can now follow movements with his eyes, but he remains unable to speak, Dr. Larry Roberts said. McCloy, who survived the Jan. 2 blast and more than 41 hours of exposure to carbon monoxide, is also receiving physical therapy. He began opening his eyes last week. One of the 12 miners may have died in the explosion, and...

(KDKA/AP) MORGANTOWN Doctors today delivered some discouraging news about the sole survivor from the tragic accident at the sago mine in West Virginia. They say Randal McCloy Jr. did suffer some brain damage from his 42 hours being trapped in the Sago Mine. From brain scans, the carbon monoxide seems to have injured the cable system deep in the brain, called the white matter. KDKA’s Medical Correspondent Dr. Maria Simbra says this area connects brain cells together. The coating of these nerves has been damaged. Dr. Simbra says the nerve coating are like the outside of an electric cord. If...

Stranded on an island off the coast of Panama, 16 strangers must live together and compete for the million-dollar prize. This time, the castaways will begin their competition as four tribes: older men, older women, younger men and younger women. At least one Survivor each week will be banished to a separate island miles away from camp. How will this change the game? Who will outwit, outplay, and outlast all others? Don’t miss a single episode of: SURVIVOR; PANAMA “EXILE ISLAND” premiering Thursday, February 2nd at 8 pm ET/PT.

Family scoffs at woman's quake survival story December 16, 2005 - 5:00PM Neighbours and family have scoffed at reports that a woman has been rescued from rubble two months after Pakistan's massive October earthquake. They say that rather than being trapped in her collapsed home for that time, she had stayed there by choice. The story of Naqsha Bibi has been making the rounds in Pakistan for days, and picked up by Pakistani media and some international news organisations. "She was not buried in the rubble. She lived in her collapsed home," said Hafeezur Rahman, a doctor who is treating...

The information in the story below was collected from the popular Iraqi web blog, IraqTheModel. This Iraqi blog creator, Omar, met and interviewed in December of 2003 one of the survivors personally affected by Sadddam’s crime against the people of Al-Dijail. Omar writes in his most recent October 18th, 2005 blog that he hopes this story will help you the reader understand this town and its' story; and turns back the clock to the early days of his blog when he interviewed a survivor who as a child lived in Al-Dijaile. Omar's entitled his blog report: "War and Peace" and...

Richard Hatch pleaded not guilty Monday to not paying taxes on the $1 million he won on "Survivor," but show host Jeff Probst suggests he should plead insanity instead. Probst told AP Radio News that he seriously thinks "Hatch is delusional." Probst said Hatch is "out of his mind" for thinking he can beat the IRS. Hatch said the IRS indicted him because he refused to go through with a plea deal. The former show winner said he won't go to jail for something he didn't do. He said the case against him is "absurd."

LITTLEROCK - When Elisha Johnson abandoned everything she owned in Louisiana last week, she was hopeful that members of her church back home would help her out. But what she wasn't expecting was the pile of donations that came from members of the community this weekend, as complete strangers showed up to support the former Highland High School student. Johnson, who graduated last year from Highland, spent six days trapped in a dormitory at Xavier University in New Orleans, where she was studying pyschology. She wiped tears from her eyes as she recounted the tale Saturday afternoon, standing in front...

Gulf Coast News - Survivor-Connector DataBase We are now hosting this database from two servers. If Server1 is busy... try Server2.You may list the person or families you want to find in this easy to use interactive database. Detail is intentionally kept to the minimum necessary to let third parties inform you of your loved one's situation.

A number of websites have been created to help survivors get in touch with their families, and vice-versa. Currently, you can check the following sites :Hurricane Katrina Survivor Check-InKatrina Survivors DatabaseNew Orleans Pundit Missing and Found Bulletin BoardHurricane Katrina Help WikiThank you.

The bicyclist killed in a hit-and-run accident Tuesday morning has been identified as Patrick Michael Klokow from Santa Clara, an Iraq war veteran. The 29-year-old Marine captain was stationed at the Marine Corps Recruit Depot as the commanding officer of the instructional training company, according to Janice Hagar, a base spokeswoman. Klokow, an artillery officer with the 3rd Battalion, 11th Marine Regiment, served in Kuwait from January 2003 to March 2003 and was then deployed in Iraq until July 2003, Hagar said. Klokow graduated from the Naval Academy in 1999 and has been stationed at the recruit depot since September...

Hidden deep in the rainforests of Central America, stand the ruins of an ancient civilization that once prospered, and then vanished. These were the Maya people, and this is the country of Guatemala. These stunning cities of the past stand as clues to a mystery thousands of years old. While Europe was in the dark ages, it was the Maya who harnessed the knowledge of the stars, and the celestial movements, to create a mystical union of man, nature and the gods. It was a world of great kings, elaborate ceremonies, fierce battles, and even human sacrifice. 18 Survivors will...