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Memorial pays due to county's heroes
Sunday, July 4, 2004
When he came home from Army service in World War II 60 years ago, Alan Fisher went back to work and got on with his life.

Vet recalls war's 'high adventure'
Sunday, July 4, 2004
The first time Germans shot at Ken Pine during World War II, he couldn't shoot back. His rifle was clogged. Pine, a young infantryman from Lawrence, was in a three-truck convoy to Forbach, France, in February 1945 that came under artillery fire.

Portraits of Honor: Marine sees memorial to completion
Saturday, July 3, 2004
The work is finally done. Four years and more than $200,000 after then-Mayor Erv Hodges and a small group of Lawrence residents began their efforts, the Douglas County Memorial of Honor will be dedicated this morning at the Lawrence Visitor Center, 402 N. Second St.

'Every day a blessing' for Korean War veteran
Saturday, July 3, 2004
Bernie Hill had barely arrived in Korea when enemy mortar shells started dropping all around him.

Lost memories of war haunt infantry veteran
Friday, July 2, 2004
Bernard Kennedy was dead.

World War II made man out of teen coal miner
Friday, July 2, 2004
As fighting raged on and around Iwo Jima in World War II, Walter Wettstein had a feeling his brother -- Harold, a sailor on a Navy destroyer -- was close by.

Caring and courage
Thursday, July 1, 2004
Nearly 60 years have passed, but Virginia Visser remembers her visit to Buchenwald concentration camp -- in the days after it was liberated -- as "one of the most searing experiences I've had in my life." Visser, then a young Army nurse serving in World War II, had no idea what she was getting into when offered the tour.

WWII veteran grateful for D-Day decision
Thursday, July 1, 2004
Robert Johnson didn't make it to Omaha Beach until the day after D-Day, but that didn't mean the danger had entirely abated. "There was enemy fire, still a good deal of artillery fire on D-plus-one," Johnson, a retired Lawrence resident, said recently of the beach, where he landed June 7, 1944.

Memorial of Honor's centerpiece put in place
Wednesday, June 16, 2004
The centerpiece of the new Douglas County Memorial of Honor was lowered onto its pedestal Tuesday to the cheers of three dozen people gathered for the event.

WWII memorial pleases area veterans
Sunday, May 30, 2004
Lawrence's World War II veterans will never forget their sacrifices, and they are glad others are remembering them, too.

3 soldiers find place in history
Sunday, May 30, 2004
• 1st Lt. Russell Lee Harris
• Army Master Sgt. Glenn E. Nicholson
• Army Capt. Loyd Meredith Willson

Memorial to county's veterans set for delivery around Flag Day
Saturday, May 29, 2004
A month remains until the dedication of a new memorial honoring Douglas County veterans, and organizers say work is on track.

POWs unchain memories
Sunday, May 9, 2004
Brought together again by their uncommon wartime bond, seven retired U.S. Navy sailors and Marines, all in their 80s, were in a hotel outside Kansas City, Mo.

River City Weekly video: POW memories, Part 1
Sunday, May 9, 2004
Don Binns, a former prisoner of war in a Japanese prison camp and a two-term Lawrence mayor, plus some of the World War II veterans with whom he was imprisoned, speak with Journal-World senior editor Bill Snead about their war-time experiences.

River City Weekly video: POW memories, Part 3
Sunday, May 9, 2004
Don Binns, a former prisoner of war in a Japanese prison camp and a two-term Lawrence mayor, plus some of the World War II veterans with whom he was imprisoned, speak with Journal-World senior editor Bill Snead about their war-time experiences.

River City Weekly video: POW memories, Part 2
Sunday, May 9, 2004
Don Binns, a former prisoner of war in a Japanese prison camp and a two-term Lawrence mayor, plus some of the World War II veterans with whom he was imprisoned, speak with Journal-World senior editor Bill Snead about their war-time experiences.

New battlefield monument honors Confederate soldiers
Sunday, April 25, 2004
Nearly 140 years ago, Union and Confederate soldiers clashed in Linn County during the only major Civil War battle in Kansas.

KU completes drive for Korean War veterans memorial
Friday, April 2, 2004
Veterans of the Korean War finally will have a permanent place to be remembered on the Kansas University campus. A $50,000 gift from the International Communication Foundation, a nonprofit organization based in Seoul, South Korea, completed fund-raising for the memorial.

KU flag-toting soldier back from Iraq
Wednesday, March 3, 2004
It's been nearly a year since Army Capt. Brad Loudon got out his Kansas University flag and posed for a picture in front of a Baath Party headquarters building in Iraq. Behind him was a large portrait of Saddam Hussein.

Family, friends welcome soldier's return
Sunday, February 29, 2004
Food was abundant and beer flowed Saturday as Army signal corpsman Joshua Evans was officially welcomed back to his Lawrence home after a 10-month tour of duty in Iraq and Kuwait.

Now at home, soldier's thoughts are still in Iraq
Saturday, February 21, 2004
Still wearing a military crew cut but back in civilian clothes, a Lawrence soldier said Friday he couldn't help feeling a bit guilty about coming home from Iraq. "There are people who are still gone and you're not," said Army National Guard 1st Lt. Scott Jackson, who served with a transportation company that ran convoys and carried ammunition in and around Baghdad. "It's almost as if you didn't finish the job."

Vietnam vet finally added to memorial
Monday, February 2, 2004
The long wait is nearly over for Stanley and Shirley Harris. This spring on Memorial Day the Lawrence couple will see their son's name added to the Douglas County Vietnam Memorial in front of the Samuel J. Churchill Army Reserve Center near 21st and Iowa streets.

Wounded soldier reassesses life goals
Monday, January 12, 2004
There are times when Chuck Bartles feels frustrated -- for example, when he is trying to get dressed or zip his fly. He might not be able to pursue a career in federal law enforcement as he planned. Overall, though, the 26-year-old is grateful. The Kansas University graduate student and Army reservist lost most of his right arm in Iraq, but he's thankful he didn't lose his life.

Donations sought to help complete county veterans memorial
Friday, January 2, 2004
A long-anticipated memorial to Douglas County's war veterans is nearing completion, but more money is needed to finish the project. "I think we're at the point we've got the home stretch in front of us," said Erv Hodges, a former Lawrence mayor and chairman of the Douglas County Patriots Memorial Committee. "I need $25,000 to make everything perfect."

Iraq 'blast' haunts Lawrence veteran
Saturday, December 6, 2003
Sgt. Jared Myers stubbed a cigarette out with his left hand, the one he's been using to do everything since a chunk of shrapnel the size of a paperweight tore through his right bicep. He sat at his kitchen table in Lawrence, his injured arm hanging in a sling with four pins sticking into a bone in the upper arm. He was talking about Oct. 23, the day a roadside bomb exploded and struck the soft-sided, inadequately armored military Humvee he was driving near Baquba, Iraq.

6News video: Lawrence soldier returns home
Saturday, December 6, 2003
A Lawrence soldier wounded in Iraq is returning home for 30 days.

6News video: Veterans honored for service to country
Wednesday, November 12, 2003
Gatherings at the American Legion and on the KU campus were some of the ways Veterans Day was observed in Lawrence.

Purpose driving veterans' groups evolves as members grow older
Tuesday, November 11, 2003
John Hughes Jr. earned the Purple Heart for his service during the Vietnam War. Now he serves with his heart.
"When I came out, nobody had our backs," Hughes said. "I came back in so it wouldn't happen again." Hughes is the quartermaster at Veterans of Foreign Wars Post No. 852 in Lawrence. When he first joined the VFW in 1968, Lawrence was a "hot spot" of anti-war activism.

Veteran gains place on wall
Sunday, November 9, 2003
Finally, the name of Russell Lee Harris is etched in Kansas stone. In August, Stanley and Shirley Harris received word their son's name would be included on the Kansas Vietnam Memorial. It was the successful end to a 16-year quest to have the young man memorialized in the state he called home.

6News video: Haskell honors veterans
Friday, November 7, 2003
The ceremony recognized Native American veterans and one of its own.

'Salute to Heroes' program pays tribute to veterans
Tuesday, July 22, 2003
With music, dancing and words, performers and celebrity speakers paid tribute Monday night at the Lied Center to the "Greatest Generation." But the focus of "Salute to Heroes: An Evening to Remember" was clearly on one hero -- former U.S. Sen. Bob Dole. "This is Bob Dole's program tonight -- his show," said George McGovern, a former U.S. senator and the 1972 Democratic presidential nominee.

6News video: Dole meets with veterans at Circle S Ranch
Tuesday, July 22, 2003
Several Medal of Honor recipients attended a dinner in their honor and shared their stories.

POWs, women of WW II relate stories in Memory Tent
Tuesday, July 22, 2003
Glenn McDole's drive to survive was insatiable. Captured in 1942 by Japanese troops in Corregidor, the U.S. Marine was marched without food and water to a prison camp. He was worked as a slave to build an airstrip out of dense jungle in the Philippines.

6News video: Veterans speak at Memory Tent
Monday, July 21, 2003
Crowds gathered to hear World War II stories from the men and women who were there.

Noncombat veterans have own stock of stories
Monday, July 21, 2003
You don't have to be a combat veteran to have emotional stories to tell about World War II.

Female WWII veteran recalls serving overseas
Tuesday, July 15, 2003
Jane Jewell jokes that Bob Dole probably saw her smiling face while in Italy during World War II. She was on the cover of the Stars and Stripes Mediterranean Easter Sunday magazine supplement in 1945.

6News video: Korean presents check for KU war memorial
Thursday, June 19, 2003
Yong Kim likes the site Kansas University has selected for its Korean War Memorial.
"It's a very beautiful place," he said, looking over the spot along Memorial Drive near Potter Lake and the Campanile.

KU pursues memorial to ‘Forgotten War'
Wednesday, June 18, 2003
Yong Kim still vividly remembers the invasion of his hometown by North Korean troops.

6News video: KU memorial gets $30,000 boost
Wednesday, June 18, 2003
A Leawood businessman who grew up watching the Korean War in his homeland is making a donation toward a Korean War memorial on campus.

6News video: Korean war veterans hoping to build memorial
Saturday, June 7, 2003
6News reports on a group of Korean war veterans that are hoping to build a memorial to those lost in the Korean war.

Proud veteran
Sunday, May 18, 2003

Freed POWs say treatment was rough
Monday, April 14, 2003
Iraqi troops south of Tikrit handed U.S. Marines a stunning surprise Sunday: Seven American POWs released in relatively good condition after three weeks of captivity. They said they were treated roughly when captured, but given medical care, and some believed they were doomed.

Vet has unique perspective on POWs
Thursday, March 27, 2003
When Lawrence resident Don Binns sees pictures of American soldiers taken captive as prisoners of war in Iraq, he cringes. He can't help but see himself in their faces. "I sympathize with them because I went through the same experience, and it was pretty gruesome ... pretty gruesome," Binns said.

6News video: Local man knows what American POWs are going through
Thursday, March 27, 2003
Don Binns survived almost four years of his life in a Japanese prisoner of war camp during World War II.

Veteran's view
Saturday, February 15, 2003

Korean War memorial plans rejuvenated
Monday, September 16, 2002
Call it the "Forgotten Memorial." In 1990, a Kansas University committee began a campaign to erect a memorial for about 60 students, faculty and alumni who were killed in the Korean War, often called the "Forgotten War."

State's oldest WWI veteran celebrates 104th birthday
Thursday, July 12, 2001
By Stephanie Paterik

Clarence Rusk comes from an era when 8-year-old boys carried pistols and young men enlisted readily for war. But a rough-and-tumble life hasn't cut his time short. Rusk, the oldest known World War I veteran in Kansas, celebrated his 104th birthday Wednesday at the Baldwin Care Center.

Sculptor enjoying acclaim, work brought on by memorial
Thursday, June 28, 2001
By Mindie Miller

Lawrence sculptor Jim Brothers is feeling a little dazed. He just finished in a year's time a project he normally would have taken three years to complete. But the rewards outweigh the exhaustion, said Brothers, who has become something of a celebrity for his work on the National D-Day Memorial in Bedford, Va.

WWII veteran finally given Purple Heart
Tuesday, June 26, 2001
Through a prolonged letter-writing campaign and the help of three Kansas lawmakers, a World War II veteran has finally received something he earned decades ago � the Purple Heart.

Lawrence D-Day veteran has difficult memories of historic battle
Sunday, June 3, 2001
By Dave Ranney

Fifty-seven years ago, 20-year-old Lee Scott parachuted into the darkness over Nazi-occupied France. "I looked down and saw all these pretty lights coming up at me, and then I realized they were tracer bullets," he said. "They were shooting at us." It was June 6, 1944. The Allies, led by U.S. Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower, were launching their assault to take Europe back from Adolf Hitler's Third Reich. D-Day had begun.

'Day of infamy' fading in memory, veteran fears
Friday, December 8, 2000
By Amber Stuever

On the door to Bud Moore's room at Babcock Place on Thursday was a Christmas wreath mounted between two miniature American flags.

Group pays respects to Union veterans
Sunday, August 27, 2000
By Mike Belt

On Aug. 21, 1863, Francis Griswold and three other men tried to surrender to William Quantrill's band of pro-Confederate guerrillas. All four were shot in cold blood during the infamous raid on Lawrence, according to Randy Thies, archaeologist with the Kansas State Historical Society.

Lawrence veteran's Fourth of July holds special meaning
Tuesday, July 4, 2000
By Tom Meagher
Journal-World Writer

He served two tours of duty in Korea, then two in Vietnam. He was born on the Fourth of July. Raymond Perdue of Lawrence turns 68 today, another birthday shared with the nation to which he gave 22 years of service. "I don't think everybody's patriotic like they used to be," Perdue said. "The guys in Korea, people forget about them. The guys in Vietnam, they forget about them."