Author: Michael E. Ruane
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The Harlem Hellfighters were captured in a famous photo. Now a retired archivist has uncovered their stories.
WASHINGTON – The nine African American soldiers were just home from the war. It was Feb. 12, 1919, and most were bundled in heavy coats as they posed for the photographer on the deck of the USS Stockholm. Members of an heroic black combat regiment, the men looked serious as they paused on deck amid…
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‘Killed’ in Vietnam and buried with comrades, one Marine returned from the dead
HALLETTSVILLE, Texas – Ronald Ridgeway was “killed” in Vietnam on Feb. 25, 1968. The 18-year-old Marine Corps private first class fell with a bullet to the shoulder during a savage firefight with the enemy outside Khe Sanh. Dozens of Marines, from what came to be called “the ghost patrol,” perished there. At first, Ridgeway was…
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Bao Bao, the National Zoo’s giant panda, heads to China
The drivers and trucks, including one backup, arrived and Bao Bao, the giant panda at the National Zoo munched her last breakfast Tuesday at the Washington facility where she was born before she heads out on a long flight to China. On the menu: bamboo. Around midday, Bao Bao will enter a crate and board…
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After Pearl Harbor, this mail plane had a new mission: Find the attackers
The tattered Pearl Harbor survivor looks every bit of 78, with weathered skin, rusty bones and the faded “U.S. Navy” emblem the old bird got before the war. Gray from age and years in the service, the veteran of Dec. 7 sits with other World War II antiques, weary and in need of attention. But with…