Marine Corps

Ellis A. Cohen, whose true-life TV movies introduced the nation to a disabled woman coaching Little League baseball and a paralyzed girl learning to walk through electricity, is taking us behind bars in his latest project to meet a convicted rapist.But was he guilty?In "Dangerous Evidence," published in paperback by Berkley Books, Mr. Cohen and co-author Milton J. Shapiro take on alleged racism and injustice in the Marine Corps, examining how a 1983 court-martial convicted black Marine Cpl. Lindsey Scott and sentenced him to 30 years on charges of raping and stabbing the wife of a white fellow Marine.

The Marine Corps League, Harford County Detachment 1198 held its annual installation of officers and Marine of the Year presentation April 23 at the Jarrettsville VFW post. The Marine of the Year award was presented to Evelyn Remines. This is the most prestigious award any Detachment Marine can receive. Through her dedication to numerous programs and activities, Remines best exemplifies what it takes to be the best of the best. The 2013-2014 officers are Commandant Pete Arnold, Senior Vice Commandant Gene Wlock, Junior Vice Commandant Evelyn Remines, Judge Advocate Jeff Beavers and Junior Past Commandant Don Benson.

When the train full of Marine recruits from Baltimore reached Washington, the blacks were made to move to the back. At boot camp in North Carolina, they were forbidden to step onto Camp Lejeune without a white escort. But the worst of it, Howard "Chappie" Williams says, came when training was over. It was the height of World War II, and these first black Marines were kept from the fight. "A lot of good talent was lost as a result of that," said Williams, who drove a truck in an ammunition company during the war. "A lot of men's lives could have been saved had it not been for the warped concept that America had at that time.

Dr. Theodore Kardash, an obstetrician-gynecologist who had been head of gynecologic services at Maryland General Hospital and whose accomplishments as a physician were the pride of his Russian immigrant parents, died April 9 at the Charlotte Hall Veterans Home in St. Mary's County after complications from leg surgery. He was 96. "He said he would make it to his 96th birthday, and he did," said his daughter, Linda Armiger of Solomons. "It was Easter weekend and we had all the family.

Lennel K. Johnson, a retired Marine Corps master sergeant and recruiter, died of complications from diabetes Tuesday at the Loch Raven Veterans Rehabilitation Center. The Ingleside resident was 70. Born in Baltimore and raised on North Mount Street, he was a 1950 Frederick Douglass High School graduate. As a young man, he worked as a grocery store clerk. Known as Sarge, he served in the Marine Corps for 20 years. He first enlisted in 1951 and was sent to Korea. He left military service in 1955 and became a postal worker and Harbor Tunnel traffic monitor before re-enlisting in 1958.

The Carroll County Detachment of the Marine Corps League will be the host for the Maryland State Marine Corps League's annual state convention Saturday and Sunday at the Comfort Inn in Westminster.County Commander Mike Owens said the General Assembly declared June 17-21 Marine Corps League Week in Maryland in a resolution dated Feb. 23.Gov. Parris N. Glendening signed a proclamation to that effect June 3.The Marine Corps League has about 600 members in seven detachments around the state. A new detachment is being formed in Hagerstown.

The five of them, who used to be six, call themselves the Marine Corps Mamas. Brought together by a similar desire, all but one were running their first marathon.And although the fastest of the group finished 1 hour, 56 minutes behind 1990 Marine Corps Marathon women's winner Olga Markova, don't underestimate their sense of accomplishment. For Baltimoreans Anna Andersen, Grace Cunningham, Brenda Fahey, Dee Reever and Nancy Wachter, running in -- and finishing -- Sunday's run through Washington was the order of the day.All of them made good on it, Andersen finishing in 4:33, Reever in 4:36, Cunningham in 4:38, Fahey in 4:38 and Wachter in 4:55.

Howard County's Marine Corps League, Staff Sgt. Karl G. Taylor Sr. Detachment 1084, will celebrate the Marine Corps' 231st birthday from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. Friday at Ellicott Mills Brewing Company, 8308 Main St,, Ellicott City. League members will collect toys for the Toys for Tots program. The detachment for active duty and former Marines is named for Taylor, of North Laurel, who died in 1968 in Vietnam at age 29. He was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for heroism in saving the lives of fellow Marines despite being mortally wounded, according to league member Bill Pastino, a partner in the Ellicott Mills Brewing Company.

WASHINGTON -- Lt. Gen. Charles C. Krulak, son of a Marine general, graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy, and veteran of Vietnam and the Persian Gulf war, was named yesterday the new commandant of the U.S. Marine Corps.He takes over from Gen. Carl E. Mundy Jr., who is retiring, at a time when the 174,000-member force is being increasingly deployed in an unstable world, its budget is strained, and the way the Corps operates is under outside review."He brings to the job of commandant a dynamic vision of the Marine Corps' future, a wealth of experience, and a highly effective leadership and managerial style," President Clinton said in a statement.

Edward J. Lopata, a lawyer and Marine Corps veteran, died of stomach cancer Wednesday at Anne Arundel Medical Center. He was 66. An Anne Arundel County resident for nearly 30 years, Mr. Lopata was born and raised in East Vandergrift, Pa. His father was a steelworker and his mother a homemaker. In the early 1960s, Mr. Lopata was a forward and co-captain for the Georgetown University Hoya basketball team. He earned his law degree at Georgetown in 1966. He practiced law for 23 years with the Washington-based firm of Jordan, Coyne, Savits & Lopata, representing insurance companies and other clients in product liability, workers' compensation and other cases.

To Navy coach Cindy Timchal, it was only fitting that senior Jasmine DePompeo broke the all-time Patriot League scoring record on Saturday with an assist. "It just comes from Jas very genuinely being an unselfish player," Timchal said. DePompeo's feed to Aimee Gennaro 13:10 into the game -- one of five assists on the day for the attacker -- broke the 17-year-old record, helping stake the No. 12 Midshipmen to an early lead in a 12-6 win over visiting Colgate. It marked the seventh straight win for Navy, which improved to 14-1 (5-0 league)

Raymond Leroy Klingmeyer, a former boxer and referee who is a member of the state's boxing Hall of Fame, died Friday of renal failure at the Bel Air Health and Rehabilitation Center. He was 88. "When he came into the ring, he looked like a referee. He had a presence, like an old-time referee … that commanded the respect of the boxers," said Patrick Pannella, executive director of the Maryland State Athletic Commission. "He was knowledgeable about any possible event that could happen in the ring," Mr. Pannella said.

He was the teenager who wasn't embarrassed to hug his mom at Severna Park High School while other students looked on, who pitched on the Falcons' 2009 state championship baseball team, and who matured into a Marine with a swallow tattoo on his right arm. Marine Lance Cpl. William Taylor Wild IV - best known as Taylor - died Monday in a military training exercise at Hawthorne Army Depot, Nevada, according to his parents. He was 21. As of Wednesday evening, the Department of Defense had not formally identified the seven Marines who died when a mortar round detonated in its launching tube during a training exercise.

Charles Nelson Wells, a retired owner of a printing firm and a World War II veteran later honored for his service with a Congressional Gold Medal, died of a blood disorder Feb. 12 at Sinai Hospital. He was 87 and lived in Lochearn. Born in Baltimore and raised on Schroeder Street, he was the son of Charles Elliott Wells and Anna Nelson Wells. He was a 1944 graduate of Frederick Douglass High School. As a young man he worked alongside his father as an apprentice at Watkins and Wells printers on West Lexington Street.

A former Naval Academy instructor who is accused of sexually assaulting a female midshipman will be court-martialed, an academy spokeswoman said Thursday. Marine Corps Maj. Mark A. Thompson, a former history instructor at the academy, is accused of assaulting the midshipman in his Annapolis apartment following the annual croquet match between the academy and St. John's College in 2011. Adm. Michael H. Miller, the academy's superintendent, referred the case to a general court-martial after reviewing information from a preliminary hearing that concluded this month in Washington, spokeswoman Jenny Erickson said.

Harry Ratrie Jr., a World War II and Korean War veteran who became a leading businessman in Maryland's highway construction industry, died Dec. 8 of a heart attack at a hospital in Naples, Fla. The longtime Baltimore County resident, who moved to Florida in his later years, was 90. Mr. Ratrie was the retired founder, CEO and board chairman of Bryn Awel Corp., an asphalt paving and highway construction firm and the parent company of smaller construction,...

A 31-year-old Naval Reserve lieutenant from College Park who had taught history at the Naval Academy was killed in Al Hillah, Iraq, on Thursday when a vehicle he was riding in came under small-arms fire, the Department of Defense confirmed yesterday. Kylan Alexander Jones-Huffman, a native of Aptos, Calif., was transported to Camp Babylon Medical Facility in Iraq, where he died. He is survived by his wife, Heidi. Huffman was on duty with the First Marine Expeditionary Force when he was killed by an unidentified gunman.

Robert R. Ayres Jr., whose World War II exploits as a Marine Corps dive-bomber pilot earned him the Distinguished Flying Cross for action against an enemy force of Japanese destroyers, died Saturday of heart failure at Kent & Queen Anne's Hospital in Chestertown. He was 82. Mr. Ayres was 22 when he dropped out of the University of Maryland in his junior year to enlist in the Marine Corps as an aviation cadet in the spring of 1941. Trained to fly SBD Douglas Dauntless dive bombers, Mr. Ayres was assigned to the Hawaiian Islands in 1942 and to Guadalcanal in 1943.

Lionel L. Bass Jr., a retired Bethlehem Steel general foreman and decorated Korean War combat veteran, died of cancer complications Dec. 2 at his Timonium home. He was 82. The son of Lionel L. Bass Sr. and Barbara Ellen Grebner, he was born in Baltimore and lived briefly in the family's Highlandtown home. His parents died of tuberculosis. He was born with the disease and spent his first four years as a patient at the old Baltimore City Hospitals at Bayview. "He never learned to talk until he was 4 years old," said his daughter, Deborah Bass Bowden of Timonium.

Navy linebacker Brye French had never met Brendan Looney, only hearing stories about the former academy lacrosse star and his two brothers from longtime coach Richie Meade. Then one day during French's sophomore year, Meade told his team that the eldest Looney brother had died in Iraq. French, who had come to Navy to play both lacrosse and football, began to understand the reasons he was in Annapolis when he heard about Looney's death in a helicopter crash. It was further clarified for French when the lacrosse team attended the funeral of Navy SEAL from Silver Spring.