Army

Washington County on Tuesday took another step toward creating a senior citizens' center at a former U.S. Army Reserves building in Hagerstown. The county commissioners voted 4-1 in favor of buying 21 Willard St. in Hagerstown, the site of a former U.S. Army Reserves center, for $625,000. The property would be used as a county senior citizens' center. The transaction depends on the city of Hagerstown, which owns the property, giving final approval to the sale. The outgoing Hagerstown City Council voted on Nov. 13 to preliminarily approve the sale.

A former homeless veteran cooked up a Thanksgiving feast for more than 250 people at the Salvation Army's Thanksgiving meal Wednesday.  “It's important to give back what was given to me, and that was help when I needed it,” said James Rhinehart, the cook for the Salvation Army's Daily Feeding Program. “These people are human beings just like everybody else.” Rhinehart said the program on busy days typically provides meals for around 170 people, but that number went up for Thanksgiving.

The Salvation Army kicked off its holiday kettle drive Monday at Valley Mall, and as members of the organization spoke, holiday music played and a $1,000 check exchanged hands. “We have only one goal this season, and that goal is to bring hope to men and women and boys and girls,” said Maj. Robert Lyle, commanding officer of The Salvation Army in Washington County. “We live in the greatest country in the world, we have the greatest amount of freedom of any nation, but we still have problems here in America, and in Hagerstown, it's no different.” Salvation Army Advisory Board member Ward Childerston began the kickoff by telling a story about a gift he received when he was 5 years old. “My father built a toy barn for me,” he said.

The Hagerstown City Council tentatively agreed Tuesday to sell a Willard Street property once used by the U.S. Army Reserve for $625,000 to Washington County for a senior citizens center. The council voted 4-0 to introduce an ordinance to sell the property, which the city owns. Councilwoman Ashley C. Haywood was absent. The city is scheduled to formally adopt the ordinance on Dec. 4 - one week after the new mayor and city council take office. “It's much more than just selling a piece of property,” outgoing city Councilman Forrest Easton said during the meeting at City Hall.

Bernard W. Hammaker, 95, Lt. Col., U.S. Army, retired, died Saturday, Oct. 6, 2012, at Ravenwood Nursing Care Center, Hagerstown, Md. Born May 14, 1917 in Funkstown, Md., he was the son of the late William E. and Mary Ball Hammaker. Bern was a graduate of Hagerstown High School and Columbia  Business School in Maryland, and graduated from Baylor University in Texas in 1949. He joined the U.S. Army in 1941, and served proudly until receiving an honorable discharge in 1970. His army career began at Camp Lee, Va., and was followed by U.S. assignments at Barksdale Field, La., Camp Polk, La., Fort Benning, Ga., Fort Pickett, Va., Fort Sam Houston, Texas,  Fitzsimons Army Hospital, Colo., Fort Jay, N.Y., Fort McClellan, Ala., and Fort Myer, Va. His foreign assignments were in the Philippines, Iran, Germany, and Vietnam.

Today, it is the site of a new facility for The Salvation Army, but it used to be a dump. When crews started digging at the site for the new Shifler Family Community Center on George Street, they found the remains of a dump, said Maj. Robert D. Lyle, who runs the center with his wife, Karen. During a dedication of the center Sunday afternoon, Lyle said he told crews digging at the site that unless there were some Indian graves or some evidence connected to Al Capone, they were not to say anything about the dump.

Letterkenny Army Depot dedicated a route clearance vehicle positioner Wednesday in memory of U.S. Army Master Sgt. Benjamin F. Bitner of Greencastle, Pa. Bitner, 37, was killed April 23, 2011, in Afghanistan by an improvised explosive device. Gary Rosenberry, chief of Letterkenny's route clearance vehicle division, said dedicating the new equipment as the “Bitner Positioner” was a fitting tribute to the fallen soldier. “Everything we do here is in support of the war fighter.

It's been almost 70 years since a young New York City woman traveled from Brooklyn to Manhattan and enlisted in the U.S. Army. But for Florence "Flo" Miles, 90 and now living in Hagerstown, the memories are still vivid. Especially when she pages through her scrapbooks and talks about her brother, Cpl. Russell Daudelin, who died a few months after America entered World War II. "He enlisted in September 1939. I was born in '22, so I was 17," she said, "This is the battle he was killed in - the Battle of El Guettar in North Africa.

Editor's note: It has been 150 years since the Civil War moved into Washington County and North and South met Sept. 17, 1862, on a battlefield along Antietam Creek. The following story is part of a package of stories that look back at the Battle of Antietam and the Civil War's impact on Washington County, Md., and the surrounding area. Seeking an opportunity to strike north of the Mason-Dixon line and seize provisions for his famished troops, Gen. Robert E. Lee and the Army of Northern Virginia forded the Potomac River into Maryland on Sept.