Forgotten War

The Public Broadcasting Service recently presented a two-hour documentary on the War of 1812, the so-called "forgotten war. " Well, they forgot to include the Battle of North Point, one of the few land battles the Americans won against the British. While the show went into great detail describing American failures under inept generals, it ignored Gen. Sam Smith and the few Army regulars, militiamen and ordinary citizens under his command who prevented the British from capturing Baltimore and laying siege to Fort McHenry from the land side.

Arts Trips Sound Politics, the third of four experimental exhibits in the Baltimore Museum of Art's Cram Sessions series, explores the political dimension of pure sound. page 11 Trips Mount Airy is home to three vineyards -- Berrywine Plantations / Linganore Wine Cellars, Elk Run Vineyards and Loew Vineyards -- which are open for tours, tastings and other events this weekend. page 16 Family Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, featuring Oopma Loompas and Candy Kisses, opens at the Baltimore Children's Theatre on Saturday.

He spent a long time making hit movies that got scant respect from Hollywood artistes, but Steven Spielberg now basks in the glow of an American Film Institute salute tonight, while Kevin Costner comes back with more of his miniseries treatise on the Indian experience.* "Fast Forward" (1 p.m.-1:30 p.m., WMAR, Channel 2) -- The local station launches a new monthly magazine program for kids. The first edition includes profiles of positive role models: Oriole Cal Ripken Jr., figure skater Michelle Kwan and director Spike Lee.* "500 Nations" (8 p.m.-10 p.m., WJZ, Channel 13)

BAGRAM AIR BASE, Afghanistan - Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton called for the deployment of additional foreign soldiers in Afghanistan during a Thanksgiving Day visit to U.S. troops here. Clinton, noting recent attacks on aid workers, said reinforcements from the United States or NATO are needed to increase security. "I believe we need more troops," the New York Democrat said. "I don't think we have an adequate number of troops to do what needs to be done." Clinton was making a one-day visit to Afghanistan with Democratic Sen. Jack Reed of Rhode Island.

Many call the Battle of North Point, when the Maryland militia faced thousands of invading British soldiers, the forgotten battle in a nearly forgotten war. But Sunday, nearly 200 years after that pivotal encounter in the War of 1812, thousands will remember as they gather at Fort Howard Park in Edgemere. Not far from the ground where Marylanders fought British troops, they will observe the annual Defenders Day with re-enactments, living history displays, patriotic anthems, even commemorative stamps.

During the course of the next four evenings, the Catholic University of America will be the site of a remarkable examination into one of humankind's most unfortunate activities. "Waging Peace: Music in the Time of War," conceived by Murry Sidlin, dean of the university's school of music and former assistant conductor of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, will reflect on conflicts from the Civil War to the Korean War and beyond. The series begins tonight with a program called "Souvenirs," offering popular music that came to be associated with this nation's wars, including "Johnny I Hardly Knew Ye" from the Civil War era; "Over There" from World War I; "The Boogie-Woogie Bugle Boy" from World War II; and songs like "Blowin' in the Wind" that captured opposition sentiment during the Vietnam War. Members of CUA's Musical Theatre Company will be featured in the concert.

The war in Afghanistan was long considered a forgotten war, as the nation focused its attentions on the deadly conflict in Iraq. But since last Memorial Day, that has changed. As the United States has wound down its combat presence in Iraq and handed over more and more of the responsibility for that nation's security to its own government, it has escallated the conflict in Afghanistan. President Obama began sending tens of thousands more troops to a deadly conflict in a harsh region.

A memorial stone listing the names of eight men killed in the Korean War was dedicated yesterday in a ceremony at Memorial Gardens behind Westminster City Hall.A ninth name is to be added. County Commissioner W. Benjamin Brown, who has been working on the memorial since 1991, pledged to have the name of Cpl. James H. Nusbaum inscribed on the stone after he learned it had been missed in the search.Westminster Mayor Kenneth A. Yowan said the ceremony was timed to be linked to dedication of a national memorial to Americans killed in the Korean War. Dedication of the national memorial is scheduled at 3 p.m. Thursday on the Mall in Washington.

For William "Bud" Wahlhaupter, the long forgotten war is forgotten no longer.Mr. Wahlhaupter, commander of the Maryland Korean War Veterans Association, will have affirmation of that this afternoon when three tractor-trailers lumber up to the Korean War Memorial in Canton. They will be carrying 19 larger-than-life stainless-steel statues created to complete the Korean War Veterans Memorial in the nation's capital.After a brief harborside ceremony and unveiling of three of the statues, the images of American foot soldiers in combat gear will be transported to a 7-acre site on the Mall in Washington, where another welcoming ceremony will be held.

Justice abroad but none at homeNo one has yet addressed the Persian Gulf crisis in terms of the percentage of minority soldiers who have been sent to the Mideast to protect Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. The latest figures indicate that minority personnel are about 61 percent [of U.S. forces]. I found this outrageous in terms of the eagerness of President Bush to go to war against Iraq. I wonder if Bush would be so eager to go to war if most of the soldiers came from the elite families of this country.