Earlier this week Powers posted a new story called “Preparing For An Embed: Getting Started” that talks about the first step.
Powers writes on the military blog Blackfive:
“The first step in any embed is a journalistic outlet. All embeds are journalistic embeds. Period. Dot. They are not for morale, they are not for sightseeing, and they are not for cooking or other culinary endeavors. Trust me, I spent a couple of months earlier this year trying to set something up for a chef who wanted to go cook for the troops, and despite my efforts and those of two very helpful people in DoD, no go, not even in conjunction with a real embed. Now, that is not to say that an embed can't chose to do something once there if the unit approves, but that is not a valid reason for an embed and won't help your cause in applying.
Embeds are for journalism and journalism only. Keep in mind that blogs (even milblogs) don't have the clout or prestige they once did and that there does still seem to be an institutional bias towards "real" media in some circles.”
More here.
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War Widow's Lawsuit Says Nat Geo, Fox Depicted Dead Husband's Body, Aired Family Photo. An Army staff sergeant's widow says in a lawsuit against National Geographic and Fox that a documentary from the companies depicted her husband's dead body and showed a private family photo she believes was taken from his laptop after he died. The suit seeks unspecified damages and to ban Nat Geo and Fox from using military family members' images, names or likenesses for commercial purposes without their permission. Nat Geo declined to comment. Donnice Roberts, of Carthage, Texas, has two children with Staff Sergeant Kevin Casey Roberts...
(Chicago Tribune)
'Witness' Documents the Work and Art of War Zone Photojournalists. “The violence is what you start out with because it’s the obvious story. I fill in the blanks with contexts about how these people live,” says Eros Hoagland. A photojournalist in war and conflict zones, he sees in his work both opportunity and limits. “You need layers and arcs and different things happening kind of at the same time, rather than in-your-face imagery of death and suffering. How much of that can you look at?” As Hoagland speaks, he’s packing for his next gig, the camera panning over his camera case, his helmet, and his body armor...
(PopMatters)
Social Media Wins and Fails: Eye of the Storm. Mashable tackled this very early on in a post they called “7 Fake Hurricane Sandy Photos You’re Sharing on Social Media”. From a photo of soldiers in front of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, to a picture stolen from a popular disaster movie, to various photoshopped photos combining non-sandy images with random storm photos — people spent much of the day passing around images that were either blatant fabrications or legitimate photos that weren’t of Sandy at all. In fact, as I was stuck on the East Coast because of the storm, I spent a good couple hours practicing my troll skills as I debunked photo after photo on my own timeline...
(Business 2 Community)
Veterans Day: Loveland veterans share their stories (video, form). Note from the reporter: Thank our veterans for their service to our country. Fill out the form at the bottom of this story; call 599-1218 and leave a message of thanks; or email jbenes@reporter-herald.com. The military experiences changed many veterans for life even though their service spanned such a short time. Some of the comments and voice recordings will be printed with a story on Nov. 11, Veterans Day...
(Reporter Herald)
Family defends Malaysian held over Facebook insult. The family of a Malaysian man detained for allegedly insulting a state sultan on Facebook called for his release Monday, saying the government is violating his free-speech rights. Police arrested 27-year-old Ahmad Abdul Jalil in Kuala Lumpur and took him to southern Johor state late Friday. He was freed briefly Monday after a magistrate court in Johor refused to extend his remand order but police immediately arrested him again, said his sister Anisa Abdul Jalil...
(WBOC-TV 16)
Bookout shares stories of courage and loss during Vietnam. One peek into Army veteran Steve Bookout’s Newton home gives a glimpse into the two tours of duty he served during the Vietnam War: At his computer desk sits an armored seat, stripped from a helicopter much like the ones he used to fly. His basement houses two helicopter doors, emblazoned with a red wild boar, the symbol of the Razorbacks gun squad, and a photo of Gen. William Westmoreland hangs on a wall, a personalized inscription scrawled at the bottom....
(Newton Daily News)
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Video of Syrian rebels executing government soldiers that surfaced last week has gone viral, while drawing condemnation from around the world.
This isn’t the first video of a war crime being committed in Syria by either rebels or government forces, and likely won’t be the last as the war continues on.
According to The Wall Street Journal:
“Summary executions by rebels of regime loyalists, soldiers and members of the Syrian security forces and police are believed to have occurred with frequency in the northern city of Aleppo, where fighting has been raging since July, according to human-rights groups, video footage and in some instances the admission of rebels themselves.
Amnesty International said it was working on verifying the video and the circumstances of the executions, but the preliminary assessment by its technical specialists indicated the footage was authentic and doesn't appear to have been manipulated.”
More on the story here.
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(CNN)
Civil War-era diary gives insight. Sally Hale holds history in her hands. Wearing protective cotton gloves, the nontraditional history student gently turned the pages of the personal diary of Franklin E. Fox, a Michigan soldier who chronicled his experiences during the Civil War. She paused and referred to a page, separated from the binding of the 150-year-old diary. “Here is a passage on the assassination of the president,” she said, referring to Abraham Lincoln. “They learned about it several days after it happened. It says, ‘The men were not in good spirits.’”
(Kearney Hub)
Civil War letters tell story of Niagara County veteran. For more than a century, the letters sat in a tiny Niagara County farmhouse, a precious link to one of the nation’s bloodiest struggles. The long-forgotten ink – spread across yellowed pages – has roared to life once again, telling the story of a Niagara County man who battled through the Civil War and lived to tell about it. More than 40 letters from Elmer Fox, who left Somerset at a young age to join the Union Army, are on display in the Royalton Hartland Community Library, 9 Vernon St., through November...
(The Buffalo News)
Blog Roundup: Three Blogs You May Have Missed. It was a busy week with Hurricane Sandy blasting through town and leaving many Sudbury residents without power. If you're catching up on your news from the week, look no further. Throughout the week Patch's Local Voices bloggers share information, insight and opinion about what matters to them. Here's a selection of blogs from throughout the week. In Not Forgotten: Sudbury Military Support Network Collects for Troops, Thom Kenney talks about collecting food and supplies to send overseas — where he recently returned from as a captain with the U.S. Army...
(Patch)
Korean War vet shares stories during Monticello visit. One of the Cold War’s most grueling and bone-chilling battles came to life during a Korean War veteran’s recent presentation at the Monticello Senior Center. Harry Burke grew up in Clarkfield, Minnesota, and currently lives in Bloomington. He is prominently featured in the book, “The Last Stand of Fox Company,” the story of how his military unit was cut off at the Chosin Reservoir. Burke visited Monticello Oct. 26 and spent more than an hour telling his tale of service to local listeners...
(The Monticello Times)
Photojournalists "Witness" war zones in new HBO series. NEW YORK (Reuters) - Some people liken a bad day at work to being in a war zone but for the photojournalists chronicled in HBO's upcoming documentary series "Witness," that's not an exaggeration. The series, which premieres on November 5 and will air every Monday for the rest of the month, follows photojournalists in Mexico, Libya, South Sudan and Brazil as they navigate violence to report issues such as drug trafficking, gang violence, corruption, and ethnic warfare...
(Chicago Tribune)
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According to the Associated Press, an online activist charged with insulting the Bahrain king on Twitter has been sentenced to six months in prison.
"Bahrain has been hit by unrest for nearly 21 months as the island’s Shiite Muslim majority seeks a greater political voice in the Sunni-ruled kingdom that hosts the U.S. Navy’s 5th Fleet," wrote the AP.
Full story here.
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The Grand Prize includes a complete digital camera set, a $1,000 gift certificate and the photo to be featured in an Installation Management Command, Army MWR branded campaign.
Via U.S. Army MWR:
Beginning 1 November, right here on ArmyMWR.com, you can win great prizes by submitting your best photos of Army Life.
So start saving those snapshots from favorite MWR events, memorable homecomings and more!
Weekly winners will be awarded for submitting photos in the following categories:
Theme 1: Army Strong Families
Theme 2: HOOAH Homecomings
Theme 3: Vacation Fun
Theme 4: Patriotic Pets
Theme 5: MWR Moments
Participants may enter at any time during the promotion.
Simply submit photos that fit the week's theme and you will be entered to win!
Grand prize winner will be generated through a random drawing of all photo entries at the conclusion of the promotion.
More information about the photo contest here.
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(BREITBART)
The battle for Maarat: Using social media to cut through the fog of war. Following Syria’s civil war is never easy. The old adage that the first casualty of war is the truth still applies, and such is the relentless brutality it is often difficult to even confirm when an incident took place. But we’ve been following the Syrian conflict through social media since the beginning, and have developed a number of methods of cutting through the fog of war to get a clearer picture of what’s taking place in the embattled state. The recent battle for Maarat al-Numan was a case in point...
(Storyful Blog)
Old tricks, new target: cyber criminals scam soldiers. No one earns their paycheck more than the men and women who defend our country. Scam artists are now using old tricks online on new targets; members of the American military. "When you sign up for the military, it's a sign up for service, and pay is never mentioned as part of the good deal,” said U.S. Navy Adm. Robert Natter. Natter spent 41 years in the Navy. From his start at the prestigious Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md, to consulting the Commander in Chief, he admits that the military pay is sufficient as long as thieves can't get a hold of it...
(ActionNewsJax.com)
Learn about soldier through diary at Frank House. As part of the Saturday at the Frank House series, Sally Hale of Kearney will present her research on the Franklin Fox Diary. The program, which is free and open to the public, will begin at 1:30 p.m. Saturday at the Frank House on the University of Nebraska at Kearney West Campus. Hale said Fox was a Union soldier in the Civil War, and he volunteered in Michigan. “The Franklin Fox diary was discovered in the Frank House by archivist Rachael Downs,” Hale said. “I was then assigned the task of electronically preserving the document.”
(Kearney Hub)
Expanded Social Media for Army-Navy Game Presented by USAA. The Army-Navy Game Presented By USAA, already the top football rivalry game in the country, will have an expanded presence on Social Media, leading up to and following the annual service academy matchup. The Army-Navy Game, will take place at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia on Dec. 8 with kickoff set for 3 p.m. Now, fans will have the opportunity to follow and participate in a host of new initiatives surrounding the event. Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, Instagram, Pinterest and YouTube will all be utilized to showcase this rivalry in the weeks leading up to the game as well as on gameday itself...
(NAVYSPORTS.COM)
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This is a heartwarming love story of Sean and Heather Brown.
As reported by the Longview News-Journal, during Heather’s pregnancy — and Sean’s time of military service in Afghanistan — she slipped into a coma and baby John Brown was born by cesarean section.
People from all over the world are following their story on Facebook.
This week, their Facebook page passed 600,000 likes.
You can follow their story here.
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Fake Photos of Sandy Flood Social Media. No matter what part of the country you're in, it's nearly impossible not to be aware of the devastation and destruction that superstorm Sandy wrought as it pummeled the East Coast of the United States. In fact, with 24-hour news coverage, there are seemingly endless photos and videos being shared via social media. But not all the images -- nor the captions that accompany them -- are real...
(Yahoo! News)
Online daters, be warned! 1 in 10 profiles are scams, report reveals. In many cases, scammers will choose to use pictures of military personnel. After discovering that his headshot consistently showed in hoax dating profiles (thanks to a Google alert), Army Master Sgt. C.J. Grisham set up a personal blog for soldiers to report their photo being used on online dating sites. “Over the past few years, I’ve seen these scammers use all kinds of photos removed from open Facebook pages, blogs, official military websites, and command pages,” he wrote in a blog post last month...
(VentureBeat)
French army wives back pay protest: Facebook campaign to sort out salary chaos Software glitch leaves soldiers owed millions. Wives and partners of French soldiers, many of whom are serving in Afghanistan, launched their protest this month after a rally this year. Inspired by campaign on post-traumatic stress disorder by the wives and partners of US troops, the women posted photographs of themselves on social networks with messages written across their backs, many sceptical that computer software was purely to blame, fearing it was also down to the failings of a cash-strapped French state...
(equities.com)
Defence disciplines 15 over Facebook slurs. The Defence Department has taken action against 15 members for posting offensive anti-Islamic comments on a Facebook page in response to violent protests in Sydney last month. Defence said two people had been charged under the Defence Force Discipline Act and given formal reprimands. Administrative action had been taken against another 13 who had been formally counselled. Disciplinary action is continuing against one other member...
(The Sydney Morning Herald)
Is the military ready for zombies? Are our nation’s military and emergency personnel prepared for a zombie apocalypse? We’ll find out on Halloween, as hordes of zombies attack a counterterrorism summit in California to be attended by Marines and Army and Navy personnel, along with police, firefighters and other first responders, the Associated Press reports...
(FCW)
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Hurricane Sandy came and went here in Northern Virginia.
As the area hunkered down for the storm, soldiers with The Old Guard (3rd U.S. Infantry Regiment) kept guard over the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.
A photo (pictured above) posted to the unit’s Facebook page quickly went viral after blogs and news agencies started reporting about the photo.
Via Facebook:
“Spc. Brett Hyde, Tomb Sentinel, 3d U.S. Infantry Regiment (The Old Guard), keeps guard over the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier during Hurricane Sandy at Arlington National Cemetery, Va., Oct. 29, 2012. Hyde lives by the Sentinel's Creed which in part says “Through the years of diligence and praise and the discomfort of the elements, I will walk my tour in humble reverence to the best of my ability”. (U.S. Army Photo by Sgt. Jose A. Torres Jr.)”
As of today, the picture has been liked nearly 13,000 times, shared more than 14,000 times on Facebook, and has nearly 1,000 comments.
Source: This Ain’t Hell
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(The Sydney Morning Herald)
Author of Book on Bin Laden Raid Says Tech, Social Media are Key Elements of Story. When history looks back on the raid that killed Osama Bin Laden, its primary focus will likely be on the American decision to send special forces into Pakistan to attack Bin Laden’s complex. As the first few books on the subject start to hit the shelves though, it is becoming clear that the role of tech and social media will be remembered as a prominent part of the story as well...
(Forbes)
Project records tales of Illinois veterans of World War II and Korean War. The stories of more than a dozen Illinois veterans who fought in World War II and the Korean War will be preserved at the Library of Congress. Court reporters, attorneys and others volunteered their time Friday to record the veterans' recollections at Lake County Circuit Court...
(The Republic)
Vietnamese-Americans try to save elders' stories. The knock came at night more than 30 years ago. Hugo Van, then a young man, had a chance to flee newly communist Vietnam and walk to freedom. There were no guarantees, but Van didn’t hesitate to take the risk. With a few hundred dollars, he and his younger sister got a car ride to a Vietnamese village, then a boat to Cambodia and began the trek across barren land until they were caught by Cambodian soldiers...
(AP)
The Gulf War, one sailors story. I enlisted in the Navy on the 2/2/1990, I disscharged on 4/2/1992. When first told we were to go to the Persian Gulf, we knew that this could result in war action being taken. So we were sent home with instructions to make a will, tell no one and end any relationship that was not serious. This I did with the only person in confidence being my father. I also ended a relationship I was currently in and returned to the ship to prepare it and us for the task ahead...
(Fraser Coast Chronicle)
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Very few western journalists have been able to report from the frontlines of the Syrian war.
New York Times contributing reporter Janine Di Giovanni is one of those few journalists.
NYT has posted a video on YouTube with Di Giovanni showing some of the footage she's captured with government soldiers as well as an interview between her and Deputy Foreign Editor Michael Slackman.
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Military history is popular with Twitter users, especially when the Twitter account reports the events as if they were happening in real-time years and years later.
It’s been awhile since I’ve written about a military history Twitter feed, having come across only a handful in the last couple years, but many of those that are online, do well in terms of readership.
Take for example, @RealTimeWWII, which was launched in August 2011 and live tweets World War 2 events. Today, @RealTimeWWII has over 260,000 followers on Twitter and nearly 8,000 Facebook Likes.
The newest military history feed making headlines is @1812now, which its author, Fernando Souza, is using Twitter to trace the events of 1812.
The feed not only covers the year’s military events, but other facts as well.
According to a story in Daily Dot, “Souza was inspired to start work on @1812now after discovering @RealtimeWWII, which tweets about events from World War II as closely as possible to the time in which they occurred 72 years prior. He thought that he could do a similar feed for 1812. It’s like Trivial Pursuit unfolding on Twitter.”
If you're interested in other military history feeds, I've put together a collection of accounts for you.
@RealTimeWWII
24-year old Alwyn Collinson is a former history student at Oxford University. Alwyn launched a Twitter feed that reports World War II events as though they were happening in real-time, 72-years later.
@civilwarreportr
A fictional Civil war newspaper reporter. According to the bio, the National Park Service sponsors the Twitter feed so followers can experience events as they happen.
@1812now
Events as they happen two hundred years ago today.
@CivilianWartime
The messages center on those who served on the home front of North Carolina during the Civil War, including the perspective of an escaped slave.
@CyrusForwood
The Delaware Public Archives tweets entries taken from the diary of Delaware soldier Cyrus Forwood who fought during the Civil War.
@Williams_war
The life of a World War I soldier who served in the British Army.
@iTweetus
A Roman re-enactor commemorates the arrival of thousands of Roman soldiers invading Northern England nearly 2,000 years ago by tweeting. The account still online, but hasn’t been active since July 2011.
If you’ve come across other Twitter feeds you’d like to share, please e-mail milblogging@gmail.com
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(Huffington Post)
On Facebook, IDF illustrates Palestinian violence - with photo from Bahrain. On October 17, the Israeli military posted the above infographic on its Facebook page. The image includes a photograph of a young masked man holding a firebomb and featuring statistics regarding the number of firebomb attacks against Israelis in the West Bank since the start of 2012. The Israeli military urges Facebook users to share the image “because the mainstream media will not.” In fact, the mainstream media did share this photo extensively – in its coverage of protests in Bahrain...
(+972 Magazine)
Stories From the War- Bringing Memories to Life . Every day we capture our lives in images. These digital snapshots tell us a great deal about ourselves, the people who surround us, and our environment. They provide context to a series of fleeting moments. The technology of today provides us the ability to capture an astonishing amount of imagery that often lays hidden on our computers, camera chips, or DVD’s. As our personal visual collections grow each year, they are eventually stored away- hidden in the dark reaches of our closets or lost within stacks of CD’s piled high in the corner of the room. This article is about uncovering one of those personal stories, and bringing it to life...
(CNN iReport)
World War II vets become living historians. WAUKEGAN — Diane Kumala Vojcanin and her siblings are no strangers to their father’s stories of World War II, but they wanted to ensure that Ray Kumala’s memories went beyond an oral tradition. “My dad’s a great storyteller,” she said. “He’d either read us a book or he’d tell his three daughters a story — we heard his ‘good stories’ from the Navy.”
(Lake County News-Sun)
Author inspired by Langley Park men in the Great War. A FATHER helping his son with his school history project on the First World War has ended up as a full-sized historical novel. Eric Collinson, 65, was researching the Durham Light Infantry involvement in The Great War for his son’s project, but found himself absorbed in the story. Mr Collinson said: "Five years later I was still doing it so I thought I’ve got enough information here to write a book"...
(From The Northern Echo)
What Tumblr can tell us about the future of media. If there was any doubt left that Tumblr is trying to become more of a mainstream media entity, albeit with its own odd twist, it was removed recently when the service hired bloggers to cover the Republican and Democratic national conventions in a kind of Tumblr-style stab at political journalism. But that’s just one side of the equation: while Tumblr is becoming more like the traditional media, many media outlets also seem to be working hard to become more like Tumblr — not only adopting the platform, but taking on a lot of its characteristics as well, including a fascination for animated GIFs and memes. You could argue about whether that’s good or bad for journalism, but there’s no question it is happening...
(GigaOm)
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I received an email from multi media artist Derek Eland yesterday, advising me that he has launched a blog called "In Our Own Words".
Eland writes, "Hi, I'm a British artist who spent a month in Afghanistan in 2011 as an official war artist. I set up 'Diary Rooms' on the front line and asked soldiers to write a postcard about their experiences. I've now started a blog about my time in Afghanistan and am publishing one handwritten story a day for a year."
According to the blog the resulting exhibition called 'In Our Own Words' is on show at the Russell-Cotes Art Gallery and Museum in Bournemouth until March 2013.
The first handwritten story was published on October 1, 2012 and reads:
I am that which others did not want to be,
I did what others did not want to do,
and went where others feared to go,
I have felt the blistering cold,
Stared death in the face,
and enjoyed only a moments love,
Even tho no one cares who i am or what I've done,
I can honestly say
I am proud of what i am!
A SOLDIER
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(AOL)
Patch Wins 3 Awards for Military Reporting. Local Patch sites won 24 awards Tuesday night in the San Diego Press Club’s 39th annual Excellence in Journalism Awards. Camp Pendleton Patch won three awards...
(Patch)
WWII vet dies at age 93 after casting last ballot. A World War II veteran who inspired many with his determination to vote even though he had end-stage liver cancer died Wednesday. Frank Tanabe's daughter Barbara Tanabe said he died at her Honolulu home, where he has spent the past few weeks in hospice. He was 93. Barbara Tanabe said she put the American flag up outside the home to mark the day for him and their family. "He really liked it when I put out the flag," she said. Hundreds of thousands of people saw a photo of Frank Tanabe filling out his absentee ballot with the help of his daughter last week, after his grandson posted the picture on the social media site Reddit...
(NBC29)
Taking power through technology in the Arab Spring. The Internet can make that which is on the opposite end of the world seem very local. Yet this can both distort or amplify reality. For example, while the recent “Innocence of Muslims” video served as a catalyst for the dissatisfaction felt toward the lack of Western support toward the Arab world, the protests and riots would not have occurred without YouTube and Vimeo. The ways by which newer and older media come together can turn slander into reality, changing what counts as truth in today’s world...
(Al Jazeera English)
Ceremony to commemorate the arrival of FNDY Squad Engine 270. The Americans in Wartime Museum invites you to attend a special ceremony at 3 p.m. on Thursday, October 25, to commemorate the arrival of FNDY Squad Engine 270. The ceremony will be held at Sean T. Connaughton Community Plaza, 3 County Complex Court, Prince William, Virginia, near Prince William County’s 9-11 Memorial. The FDNY vehicle, which was on scene at the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001, will become part of the Museum’s permanent collection and will honor those who served and sacrificed on 9/11...
(Americans in Wartime Museum)
City courthouse dig tells Civil War story. Call it “Building X.” What remains of it lay, buried and long forgotten until now, beside today’s Fredericksburg City Hall where a new courthouse will soon rise. Now, thanks to intense scrutiny by archaeologists and local researchers in recent weeks, you can add this once-substantial row house to the casualties of the Battle of Fredericksburg...
(Fredericksburg.com)
Syria: activists mobilise to free jailed cartoonist. Cyber activists in Syria are campaigning for the release of jailed cartoonist Akram Raslan, who was reportedly arrested in the city of Hama on the 2nd October. Blogger “The Syrian” believes he was taken in for questioning over one of his recent anti Bashar al-Assad drawings. The cartoon illustrated one of the slogans used by pro-government militia the Shabiha, which would rather see the country put to fire and the sword than see the president leave office...
(FRANCE 24)
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I first wrote about Kyle Miller back in early April 2012.
The teenager had set out on an ambitious plan, as part of his Eagle Scout Project, to capture in writing and record on tape the stories of 1,000 veterans.
At the time, he had captured four stories with 17 others in the pipeline.
Based on my latest count, he has over 2 dozen stories recorded according to Voices from the Front, a website he set up to help reach his goal with help from volunteers.
Yesterday, Kyle's story was one of the top stories on NBC.
Reporter Rehema Ellis writes:
“Kyle Miller hasn’t been around long enough to have much of his own history, but at 16, he’s deeply involved in the military history that others created.
When he was 12, Kyle, a Boy Scout, joined a group for World War II veterans. He was so fascinated by their stories that he became their archivist. Now he’s taken on an even bigger task to make certain their stories are around forever.”
If you'd like to help Kyle reach his goal, visit Voices from the Front to learn more.
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Before I get started, I should say that Sgt. Robert Larson has been found safe and has returned home.
Army Times has the story about social media and how it has helped someone in the military.
Here are the highlights:
- Sgt. Robert Larson suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injury
- Fort Jackson media relations officer Patrick Jones confirmed that Rob has a history of behavioral challenges associated with his injury
- Rob and his wife Pamela Larson met during a deployment to Iraq; she suffered a gunshot wound while serving in 2005 as a mechanic with the 54th Engineer Battalion in Ramadi, Iraq
- Sgt. Robert Larson went missing Oct. 6
- Pamela Larson set up a “Help Find Sgt. Robert Larson” Facebook page that she updated daily
- She chronicled every meeting with law enforcement and her husband’s chain of command, while thousands of followers sent in tips and expressed their support for her husband
- On Oct 15. Sgt. Larson returned home safely
- His cousin had found him camping out in a forest near his Minnesota hometown
- The “Help Find Sgt. Robert Larson” Facebook page had collected 11,831 “likes” as of press time, with some posts garnering more than 5,000 “likes” and upward of 800 comments.
- Though the tips sent in didn’t pan out, Pamela said she took comfort in knowing how many people are on her side
At the time of this story, the Facebook page has nearly 12,000 likes.
Full story here.
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The photo of a 93-year old World War II veteran placing his last vote from his deathbed is wildly popular on Reddit this week.
The photo (seen above) was submitted 4 days ago and at the time of this story has reached nearly 600,000 views.
The following message accompanied the photo:
“My grandfather is proud of having voted in every single presidential election since he was awarded his citizenship in order to serve during WWII. Here he is, 93 years old and on his deathbed, with my aunt helping him fill out one last ballot.”
The Associated Press reports the picture is of Frank Tanabe getting help from his daughter Barbara Tanabe filling out his absentee ballot in Honolulu.
According to the AP, “Tanabe volunteered to join the Army from behind barbed wire at the Tule Lake internment camp in California. He was pulled out of college at the University of Washington and taken to the camp when President Franklin D. Roosevelt ordered 110,000 Japanese-Americans detained and isolated after the start of the war with Japan.”
The thread on Reddit has over 700 comments posted.
The top comments on Imgur include, "True Patriotism", "That man is America. Amen." and "Thank you, Citizen."
For the full news story, go here.
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(WTVM.com)
Legacy project tells veterans' stories. After dozens of interviews with veterans from World War II all the way through the current conflict in Afghanistan, Glenville State College's West Virginia Veterans' Legacy Project is now publishing those stories. Next month, West Virginia Public Broadcasting will debut the project's hour-long documentary, "A Tradition of Service." Project organizers also are readying a coffee table book that features photos and excerpts from interviews with veterans and are helping publish a memoir by World War II veteran Warren Matheny...
(Daily Mail)
Patch Blogs: An Inside Look at Afghanistan. Chris Day, a Rocklander who served two tours in Afghanistan with the U.S. Army, gives Patch readers insight into how the 11-year war jibes with the ongoing struggle for the White House. Day—whose brother is currently deployed, and whose father works as a Rockland County legislator—lays out how President Barack Obama and Governor Mitt Romney differ in their Afghanistan strategies. And they don't differ much, according to Day...
(Patch.com)
Odierno Shares Views on Military’s Relationship With Media. The biggest challenge in the relationship between the military and the media is working together in an uncertain environment in an age of instant communication, the Army’s chief of staff said here Oct. 19. Gen. Ray Odierno shared his views on military-media relations in remarks and a question-and-answer session with about 60 journalists attending the 10th annual Military Reporters and Editors Conference. “As we move forward, and as I look at what’s going on around the world, the ability to communicate instantaneously is only going to get faster and faster and faster, and the ability to report is going to get faster and faster and faster,” he said...
(Department of Defense)
Leicestershire PoW's astonishing story being made into a blockbuster film. A photograph of a Leicestershire prisoner of war confronting Nazi leader Heinrich Himmler convinced Hollywood producers to make the soldier's gripping story into a movie. A-list actors are said to be queuing up to star in the film about Horace Greasley, a Second World War soldier who risked his life repeatedly for his German sweetheart, Rosa. Horace, from Ibstock, was a private with the 2nd/5th Leicestershire Regiment when he was captured on May 25, 1940, during the British retreat to Dunkirk...
(This is Leicestershire)
Tranquil Eleven Point river echoes with stories from Civil War era. The Eleven Point River meanders through more than just nature’s beauty. This spring-fed stream also traverses an area rich in history. On a recent canoe trip I have run my hand over rusted iron that was once a grist mill. I have floated along a tree-lined bank haunted with the memory of 40 immigrant families that settled there before the Civil War hoping for a tranquil, peaceful life close to nature. Tranquility wasn’t found. They disappeared from the land...
(Springfield News-Leader)
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