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Editor's note: The following story about the former Fort Ritchie U.S. Army Base is one in an occasional series of stories about some of the treasures of Washington County's past. CASCADE - What was to become Fort Ritchie U.S. Army base in Cascade started out as the Buena Vista Ice Co., became a National Guard camp and then was taken over by the U.S. Army to train soldiers in military intelligence and psychological warfare during World War II. It wound up its military years as a command center for Site R, a government installation known locally as the Underground Pentagon, built under Raven Rock Mountain in neighboring Pennsylvania.

In today's costly fuel environment, many RVers are thinking about ways to ease their pain at the pump while in search of adventure. Lighter weight, better aerodynamics and smaller engines are among the qualities that come into play when seeking extra miles per gallon for one's RV setup. A small family-owned company has been quietly producing a line of slide-in truck campers that represent a partial solution to the fuel economy quagmire. Ever since 1953, Alaskan Campers Incorporated has built truck campers with a twist: they feature hardwall bodies that telescope down for travel and up for camp.

A visit to Statton Furniture Manufacturing Company's historic factory at 504 E. First St. in Hagerstown's South End provides a rare opportunity to observe skilled craftsmen using traditional hand tools and modern woodworking machinery to create the finest reproductions and adaptations of Early American masterpieces from the 18th and 19th centuries. As you walk across the well-worn wooden floors, you might see in production a large conference table and set of chairs, tall cabinets and bookshelves for an executive suite, and many elegant accent and occasional pieces for the bedroom, dining room, and home office.

With each passing day, the population of living World War II veterans continues to dwindle across the nation, and with them go stories about one of the most earthshaking periods in history. Since this past June, a group called Friends of the National World War II Memorial has been seeking out the country's remaining WWII veterans and interviewing them, cataloging audio and video accounts to serve as an educational and cultural tool for generations to come, according to James Percoco, director of education for the group based in Washington, D.C. “It doesn't matter where they're from because we are losing between 600 and 1,000 World War II veterans a day as the generation passes from us very quickly,” Percoco said.

A fight filmed on the steps of the historic Berkeley County Courthouse played out on televisions across the country Sunday night as part of TLC's “My Big Fat American Gypsy Wedding.” Two young Romanichal gypsy women shoved and punched each other following a wedding in the reality series that depicts the everyday lives of families like Mellie Stanley's. She was charged with disorderly conduct after the brawl. Cameras caught Mellie and the maid of honor, Diamond, in what Mellie called “a huge argument.” It centered around comments allegedly made about the bride's mother-in-law.

Norfolk Southern opened its $97 million rail-truck facility Monday, creating 126 jobs with thousands more expected. The new facility on 200 acres near Exit 3 of Interstate 81 is part of the railroad's Crescent Corridor, a 2,500-mile network of rail and terminals that reduces truck traffic on highways and cuts carbon emissions, said Dave Pidgeon, public relations manager for Norfolk Southern. “We're up and running and so far, so good,” Pidgeon said. L. Michael Ross, president of the Franklin County Area Development Corporation, said indirect growth from Norfolk Southern could be huge.

Colorado is a popular place, known for gorgeous mountain vistas, rugged terrain, winter sports and the like. It is not usually considered a place for surfers to catch a wave. That's what makes so unusual Evan Patronik's decision to help found a company making wooden surfboards and stand-up paddleboards in Lyons, Colo., just outside Boulder. But then Patronik's long been an unusual and a quirky kind of guy. And nontraditional challenges don't faze Patronik in the least. The Hagerstown native has an undergraduate and master's degree from the University of Maryland in fire protection engineering.

HAGERSTOWN janeth@herald-mail.com Donald R. Gossard Sr. doesn't hold it against his father that he and four of his brothers were sent to an orphanage in 1936 after their mother died. It probably saved their lives, ensuring that their physical needs would be taken care of during the lean Depression years, Gossard said. "If we wouldn't have went there, we would have died," said Gossard, who was 8 years old at the time. When his mother, Stella, died at age 34 of a mastoid infection, life for the 10 Gossard children - seven boys and three girls - was turned upside down.

JAN. 19, 1922-AUG. 1, 2009 Arthur J. Sharer, 87, of Hagerstown, Md., died Saturday, Aug. 1, 2009, at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Martinsburg, W.Va. He was born Jan. 19, 1922, in the Sharpsburg (Smoketown) area. He was the oldest son of the late Arthur C. and Pearl Baker Sharer. His wife, Elaine Gertrude Snodderly Sharer, preceded him in death on Oct. 6, 1991. He was a veteran of World War II, serving in the U.S. Army. He received the Purple Heart for being wounded in the Battle of the Bulge.

The premise of the club is to meet yearly for dinner to remember those who have gone to “The Post Everlasting.” At an appropriate place in the Legion home, a cabinet contains a roster of veterans from World War 1, World War II, Korea, Vietnam, the Near East, Grenada and Panama. In the same cabinet, there is a bottle of wine which the Last Man of each division will open and drink to remember his departed comrades. The Joseph C. Herbert Post 222 of Clear Spring has a Last Man's Club, which started in 1956 with approximately 150 members.