War

Local historian Roger Keller will present “Maryland and the War of 1812” Friday, March 9, at 6 p.m. at the Boonsboro Library. The library also will host the “War of 1812 Traveling Exhibit” from March 5 to 29. The exhibit is made available through the Baltimore National Heritage Area and is available for viewing Monday to Friday, 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.; and Saturday, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. For more information, go to www.whilbr.org/SharpsburgMilitia1812/index.aspx ...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The House on Tuesday sent President Obama a major war-funding increase of $33 billion to pay for his troop surge in Afghanistan, unmoved by the leaking of classified documents that portray a military effort struggling between 2004 and 2009 against a strengthening insurgency. The House voted, 308-114, to approve the spending boost for the additional 30,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan. Other non-war provisions brought the total bill to nearly $59 billion. From Obama on down, the disclosure of the documents was condemned by administration officials and military leaders on Tuesday, but the material failed to stir new anti-war sentiment.

When the news came that Rachel Maddow had written a book based upon a long study of our wars and the consequences, there was little delay in the purchase and reading. Those who have watched her display of talents, energy, brilliance and grasp of world events will recognize her gifts as a writer in “Drift.” The subtitle, “The Unmooring of American Military Power,” suggests the tone of her well-documented story. What follows is a chronological unveiling of the expansion of our armed forces from a citizen army to a mammoth military complex with units and equipment scattered over the globe.

The Maryland Humanities Council will present David Hildebrand in a concert of “Music of the War of 1812 in America,” Sunday, May 19, at 4 p.m. in St. Mark's Fellowship Center, 18313 Lappans Road, Boonsboro.  The War of 1812 spawned a huge variety of songs in America. From the early stirrings of party politics under President Adams, the traumatic effect of Jefferson's Embargo in 1807, the triumph at Fort McHenry to the last battle in New Orleans, Americans took pen to paper to tear at political opponents, to dramatize the great sea battles between huge frigates in full sail and to laud battle heroes like Hull and Perry.

andrews@herald-mail.com gregs@herald-mail.com Three days after Secretary of State Colin Powell stated the United States' case for a war against Iraq to the U.N. Security Council, a sample of Tri-State residents were on opposite ends of the issue. Some said they support a war. Others said they don't. No one said they had changed their mind based on the evidence Powell presented Wednesday. Several people knew little or nothing about what Powell said. Matt Houghton and Steven Enswiler, both of Inwood, W.Va.

marlob@herald-mail.com While some pastors in the Tri-State area plan to weave the hostilities in Iraq into their Easter sermons today, most will deliver traditional messages of hope, resurrection and redemption. "We have addressed current events the past few weeks in our congregation," said the Rev. Harold Shenk of Hebron Mennonite Church in Paramount. "On Easter Sunday, I plan to preach a traditional Sunday sermon. " Shenk's topic today at the 10 a.m. service is "Shaken by the Resurrection.

In a war against a global religio-martial movement, militant Islamist Jihadism, the war must be fought on two fronts: 1. The physical/military front and 2. The metaphysical public relations front. The enemy can lose 90 percent of its manpower on the military field of battle, but if it wins on the public relations front, it can turn around and recruit 200 percent of what it had before. Each cycle, the enemy comes out 210 percent ahead, even if we kill or neutralize nine out of 10. While we are winning the fight on the ground, we are actually losing the war because our foes are growing at an exponential rate.

In the future, Americans should only enter into those wars that the people of this democratic republic truly want. How could this be arranged? Congresspersons are at least somewhat sensitive to how they are regarded by their constituents. They try to avoid taking positions that are abhorrent to the great majority of voters in their districts. OK then, here's how to ensure that future wars won't arise out of a cabal of Texas oilmen, or the confused brain of a less-than-perfectly-smart president or the boardrooms of some huge corporations in the government services contracting business.

pepperb@herald-mail.com Washington County educators are fielding questions from students about the war instead of teaching about it in a school system effort to keep classes as normal as possible. Leigh Green, who teaches United States history to eighth-graders at Springfield Middle School, said she doesn't bring up the war, but she has had to answer some questions about presidential powers, weapons being used in combat and the differences between biological and chemical weapons.

To the editor: Many have speculated what will happen if Rep. Ron Paul is not elected president. The obvious answer is that nothing will change; that is, nothing regarding our present circumstances will change and most likely will only get worse. So, by eliminating the fact that there are no good alternative candidates in the event that Ron Paul is not our next president, we will need to focus on our nation's future degradation that will result from the continuation of the neoconservatives' status-quo of legislative and foreign policies - regardless of which party wins the presidency.

U.S. Sen. Jay Rockefeller on Saturday presented 10 medals to Charles Town resident Frederick Mayer, a World War II veteran who served as a clandestine agent behind enemy lines. As an Office of Strategic Services (OSS) operative, Mayer posed as a German officer in Austria. Despite being captured and tortured by the Gestapo, Mayer helped negotiate the surrender of Innsbruck in 1945, avoiding a final battle there that could have cost countless lives and caused great destruction. “Mr.

High school athletes are like foot soldiers. They register and enlist to join a team. They go through basic training (preseason practice) to learn a level of discipline, focus and routine. They are taught strategies and the teamwork needed to be successful in individual and group battles. And just like soldiers, high school athletes need a commanding officer. In the military, it's a general. In sports, like softball and baseball, it's a coach - sometimes called a field general.

With the number of World War II veterans dying at the rate of more than 600 per day, it was a rare occasion to have two veterans of the conflict together in Chambersburg on Thursday. World War II veteran and best-selling author of “Hell's Guest,” Col. Glenn Frazier, 89, was the guest speaker at the Rotary Club meeting at The Orchards Restaurant. He shared his experiences of fighting a losing effort to save the Philippine Island of Luzon from the Japanese to the infamous six-day Bataan Death March and three years of torture in Japanese prisoner of war camps.

The president of South Korea thanked a group of local Korean War veterans for helping set the cornerstone of a 60-year partnership between her country and the United States during a dinner Tuesday in Washington, D.C. Les Bishop, commander of Antietam Chapter 312 of the Korean War Veterans Association, said 27 members of the organization were among about 500 people who were invited to attend the event with South Korean President Park Geun-hye at...

Civil War cannons that occupied Doubleday Hill in Williamsport from the late 1800s until they were removed in 2000 returned to their home during a ceremony Saturday. Williamsport Town Councilman Scott Bragunier coordinated the historic project, through which the cannons were sent away to Kentucky firm Steen Cannons for restoration. Bragunier said in 1896, U.S. Sen. Louis E. McComas donated the tubes that had been stockpiled following the war. The town of Williamsport mounted the tubes on bricks and dedicated them on Doubleday Hill on July 4, 1897.

M&S Harley-Davidson partnered with Blondie's in Rouzerville, Pa., Park Tavern in Waynesboro, Pa., The Dawg House in Waynesboro and Casey's Bar & Grill in Greencastle, Pa., for the War of the Wings charity event. The event was held April 6 at M&S Harley-Davidson 160 Falling Spring Road in Chambersburg, Pa. The event was held to raise money for the PAR Foundation, a nonprofit corporation committed to helping children with visual impairment to be on par by helping to provide the tools they need to succeed developmentally and socially.  The PAR Foundation was created in honor of Peyton Alexis Rauth, who was born  March 16, 2008.

The Maryland Humanities Council will present David Hildebrand in a concert of “Music of the War of 1812 in America,” Sunday, May 19, at 4 p.m. in St. Mark's Fellowship Center, 18313 Lappans Road, Boonsboro.  The War of 1812 spawned a huge variety of songs in America. From the early stirrings of party politics under President Adams, the traumatic effect of Jefferson's Embargo in 1807, the triumph at Fort McHenry to the last battle in New Orleans, Americans took pen to paper to tear at political opponents, to dramatize the great sea battles between huge frigates in full sail and to laud battle heroes like Hull and Perry.

Tara Viands joined a parade of nearly 300 people who walked a three-mile loop around War Memorial Park on Saturday morning to raise money for the March of Dimes' March for Babies. “I walked because my daughters can't walk,” said Viands, a mother of two from Hedgesville, W.Va. On July 25, 2006, her twin daughters, Macy and Carly, were born six weeks prematurely at Ruby Memorial Hospital in Morgantown, W.Va. Macy weighed 3 pounds, 6 ounces. Carly was born two minutes later weighing 3 pounds, 3 ounces.

A group of local Korean War veterans has been invited to have dinner with the president of South Korea on May 7 in Washington, D.C. Les Bishop, commander of Antietam Chapter 312 of the Korean War Veterans Association, said the South Korean Embassy recently invited 40 members of the organization and some of their wives to dine with President Park Geun-hye at the Smithsonian American Art Museum. “I couldn't tell you how proud I am and pleased that we received this invitation,” Bishop said.

John Leather wears earplugs to church, but it's not the sermon that the 88-year-old World War II veteran is trying to muffle. He said he wears the earplugs to drown out the rumble of a drum that's played when the congregation sings hymns. “I've had to leave the service a couple of times,” Leather said with a shiver. “It reminds me of artillery coming in.” Nearly 70 years ago, Leather was a sergeant in the 17th Airborne Division, a unit of paratroopers and glider soldiers who saw some of World War II's most ferocious fighting during the Battle of the Bulge and Operation Varsity.