Originally printed in the Clear Lake Courier — October 2, 1996 The first day lasted 25 hours. We drove to Sioux Falls, South Dakota, early Tuesday morning. When I arrived in Japan and checked into my BOQ room at Naval Air Facility Atsugi, Wednesday morning’s Today show was on television. The Boeing 747 left Seattle […]
Originally printed in the Clear Lake Courier — July 3, 1996 This isn’t the column I intended to write last month. I had expected to tell about running a forty-mile ultramarathon in Tennessee on May 4. Instead, that was the day I attended the funeral of my nephew, Cody Lee Paver. He was five years […]
 Originally printed in the Clear Lake Courier — August 7, 1996 He was the only person to go from the very bottom of the Navy to the very top, from seaman recruit to Chief of Naval Operations. He was also the first CNO who did not attend the Naval Academy. In 1956 Jeremy “Mike” […]
Originally published in the Clear Lake Courier — November 1, 1995 Did you serve in the United States Navy, Marine Corps, Coast Guard or wartime Merchant Marine, either in the reserves or on active duty? If so, you’re eligible to have your photograph displayed in the Navy Memorial Log at the U.S. Navy Memorial and […]
Originally published in the Clear Lake Courier — April 17, 1996 Sergeant Major Charles Black, assigned to the Army’s 7th Special Forces Group at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, was on temporary duty in El Salvador just before Christmas 1989. While coordinating in-country training for Special Forces teams, he stayed at the Sheraton Hotel in the […]
Originally published in the Clear Lake Courier — March 27, 1996 Several years ago a 12-man U.S. Army team was sent to a remote village in northern Thailand. As soon as the team arrived, they set up a medical clinic and started giving checkups and shots to the children. A local drug warlord, who didn’t […]
Originally published in the Clear Lake Courier — February 22, 1995 “I do not think you read your mail personally. We the people would like to think so though.” That comment represents the hope of many who write to the President of the United States. Even if President Clinton devoted all his waking hours to […]
Originally published as”Kobe Earthquake” in the Clear Lake Courier — July 15, 1998 The earthquake that struck Kobe (ko-bay), Japan, in 1995 registered 7.2 on the Richter scale and lasted twenty seconds. Fires and collapsed buildings and bridges throughout the city killed 5000 people and injured 21,000. More than 275,000 of the city’s 1.5 million […]
Originally published in the January/February 1995 issue of “DC Road Runners Review & Schedule,” Washington DC The invitation in the mail was for a 14-mile moonlight trail run. I had joined the Virginia Happy Trails Running Club because I wanted ultrarunning contacts in my new home, but so far I had not met any of […]
Originally published in the Clear Lake Courier — September 13, 1995 Korean War veterans finally had their day in the sun. Four days actually, and the sun definitely did shine. The Korean War Veterans Memorial was dedicated in Washington DC on July 27, the 42nd anniversary of the end of the Korean War. The four-day […]