101st Airborne

Murray L. Ford Sr., a former sales manager for Sun Life Insurance Co. of America, died of cancer Saturday at Stella Maris Hospice in Timonium. He was 66. Born in Baltimore and a lifelong Parkville resident, Mr. Ford was a 1953 graduate of Parkville High School. During the 1950s, he served with the Army's 101st Airborne Division managing post exchanges. After his Army discharge, Mr. Ford, who was known as "Murph," worked as a printer for Monumental Printing Co. in Hampden. He joined Sun Life Insurance in 1970, and was a sales manager in its Baltimore branch when he retired on a medical disability after learning he had muscular dystrophy in 1981.

Melvin M. Carneal, a retired Enoch Pratt Free Library maintenance supervisor, died Tuesday of cancer at Stella Maris Hospice in Towson. The Edgemere resident was 65.The Baltimore native retired in 1988 as the library system's building maintenance chief, a position he had held beginning in 1980. He had earlier worked at Goetze Candy Co.He served with the Army's 101st Airborne Division in the mid-1950s and was a member of the Edgemere Moose and the Veterans of Foreign Wars Wells McComas Post.

The battlefield As an armored noose all but sealed off Baghdad, a U.S. C-130 cargo plane landed at Baghdad International Airport, the first coalition aircraft known to have arrived in the Iraqi capital and a sign of increasing coalition military control. In Albu Muhawish, soldiers with the Army's 101st Airborne Division were ordered out of a captured Iraqi military compound when tests showed evidence of sarin nerve gas in a weapons cache. But U.S. military officials couldn't confirm the report.

On Thursday, May 26, 2005, WILLIAM ROBERTMc MAHON, Sr. 81, of Conover, NC, died at home after a period of declining health. Born August 21, 1923 in Baltimore, Maryland, he was a son of the late William and Mamie Mc Mahon. He served as part of the 101st Airborne Division in World War II and was a lifetime member of the Ironworkers Union Local #16. In addition to his parents, he was preceded in death by a sister, Pauline Henry, and brother, Homer Mc Mahon. Survivors include: wife of 63 Years: Thelma Mc Mahon; daughters: Pauline Cooke of Conover, NC, Pamela Snyder of Westminister, Maryland, Elaine Pitz of Stevensville, Maryland, Helen Flors of Federalsburg, Maryland, Debra Vaughan of Martinsville, Virginia; sons: William Mc Mahon, Jr. of Palmer, Alaska, Duane Mc Mahon of Stevensville, Maryland, Paul Mc Mahon of Conover, NC; 14 grandchildren and 5 great-grandchildren.

Fort Campbell, Ky. -- A senior enlisted man testified yesterday that he had angrily asked over a military radio why his soldiers had not killed several Iraqi men they had taken into custody during a combat sweep in Iraq last May. Minutes later, three detainees were shot dead. A 101st Airborne Division squad leader, Staff Sgt. Raymond Girouard, is charged with ordering his soldiers to kill the Iraqis. "I don't understand why we have these guys alive!" 1st Sgt. Eric Geressy testified he shouted over the radio shortly before two soldiers in Girouard's squad shot and killed the unarmed Iraqis.

James A. Haynie, a retired security system supervisor and fire buff, died Monday of cardiac arrest at Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center. The Highlandtown resident was 84. Mr. Haynie was born and raised in Baltimore and was a graduate of city public schools. During World War II, he served in communications with the 194th Glider Battalion -- which was a part of the 101st Airborne Division, better known as the Screaming Eagles -- during the Battle of the Bulge.

Thunder Run: The Armored Strike to Capture Baghdad, by David Zucchino. Atlantic Monthly Press. 320 pages. $24. We're doing it again -- another Mogadishu," the U.S. Army sergeant major thought under the highway bridge near Baghdad. Rocket-propelled grenades exploded, AK-47 rounds whizzed past. It was April 7, 2003, and the Army was fighting to hold Highway 8 amid stiff resistance. The road was a lifeline for tanks and Bradley fighting vehicles that had just barged into Saddam Hussein's palace grounds in the capital.

BAGHDAD, Iraq - The U.S.-led occupation of Iraq sustained hits on its military and civilian flanks yesterday when 62 Americans were injured in three attacks and the Iraqi Governing Council defiantly announced the firing of a governor chosen by U.S. administrator L. Paul Bremer III. Two suicide bombings targeted U.S. military facilities, the first before dawn outside a compound in Tall Afar, near the northern city of Mosul, injuring 59 soldiers. The second occurred at a base in Husseiniya, 15 miles northeast of Baghdad, where a man blew himself up, wounding at least three soldiers.

WASHINGTON - Samples of suspected chemical agents found at an agricultural site in Iraq are being flown to Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland to determine whether they are prohibited nerve and blister agents, defense officials said yesterday. Preliminary tests indicated the presence of chemical agents, according to Col. Tim Madere, the senior chemical warfare officer for the Army's V Corps. But more sophisticated testing is needed to confirm any findings. The tests at Aberdeen take about 72 hours to produce a final result.

Air National Guard Airman Sean J. Murphy has graduated from Air Force Training at Lackland Air Force Base, Texas.Murphy, the son of Joseph and Gail Murphy of Woodbine, is a 1989 Glenelg High School graduate.CARO AWARDED STARArmy 1st Lt. Stephen T. Caro has been awarded the Bronze Star.It was awarded for exceptionally meritorious service in support of U.S. forces and the multi-national coalition coalition during operation Desert Storm. He is a rifle platoon leader with the 327th InfantryRegiment, 101st Airborne Division, Fort Campbell, Oak Grove, Ky.Caro, is the son of Dana and Eunice Caro of Ellicott City, graduated from West Point in 1989.