Valley Forge

George Washington's 277th Birthday Celebration Where:: Welcome Center at Valley Forge National Historical Park, Route 23 and Gulph Road in Valley Forge, Pa. When:: 11 a.m.-3 p.m. tomorrow. What:: Visitors can meet portrayers of George and Martha Washington while listening to period music by the Colonial Revelers. Children can make their own three-corner hats and design birthday cards for the first president in the Encampment Store from 10 a.m.-noon. Afterward, there will be a presentation and tasting of a birthday cake baked using Martha Washington's original recipe.

PRESIDENT BUSH had the nerve to invoke Valley Forge on Monday during a speech about the war in Iraq. Americans persevered through "terrible hardships and losses" back then, he said, and presumably Iraq will be no different. Question No. 1: In what ways are the American Revolution and the war in Iraq similar? Answer: In no ways. Question No. 2: In what ways are George Washington and George W. Bush similar? Answer: See above. If the commander in chief needs reminding, the encampment at Valley Forge during the winter of 1777-1778 was the darkest hour of the struggle for independence.

The University of Maryland has received an oral commitment from Lovett Purnell, a fullback and linebacker from Valley Forge Military Academy in Pennsylvania, Valley Forge coach Jim Burner said yesterday.Purnell, 6 feet 3, 200 pounds, rushed for 534 yards and five touchdowns on 83 carries last season and made 39 tackles as an outside linebacker. He made only two official college visits, choosing Maryland over West Virginia.Purnell is at least the ninth player to commit to Maryland before the Feb. 5 early-signing date.

VALLEY FORGE, Pa. - Reveille sounds at 0600 hours, echoing across the lush, leafy campus of Valley Forge Military Academy, heralding a new dawn for the 800 cadets here and for military schools across America.Spurned in the anti-military atmosphere of the Vietnam War, military schools dwindled from nearly 600 in the late 1950s to just 41 by the time U.S. military involvement ended in Southeast Asia in the 1970s.But now, with parents increasingly concerned about chaotic conduct and the lack of value-oriented curricula in some public school classrooms, military schools are filled to capacity.

The University of Maryland has received an oral commitment from Lovett Purnell, a fullback and linebacker from Valley Forge Military Academy in Pennsylvania, Valley Forge coach Jim Burner said yesterday.Purnell, 6 feet 3, 200 pounds, rushed for 534 yards and five touchdowns on 83 carries last season and made 39 tackles as an outside linebacker. He made only two official college visits, choosing Maryland over West Virginia.Purnell is at least the ninth player to commit to Maryland before the Feb. 5 early-signing date.

Scottish, Irish FairThe first Mid-Summer Scottish and Irish Music Festival and Fair is coming to the Valley Forge Convention Center in King of Prussia, Pa., Saturday and Sunday . Top Irish and Scottish performers including Seven Nations, Black 47, Men of Worth, Bur, Whelan & O'Riordan and Donna Missigman, will highlight this weekend's event. More than 30 craft exhibitors and vendors will be open for business, and bagpipers, Irish step dancers and Scottish Highland dance groups will perform continuously.

Bel Air's boys soccer team showcased its talent at its own tournament Saturday. The Bobcats beat No. 10 St. Paul's, 4-0. Nat Hand scored twice and single goals were scored by Carson Kalama and Drew Adams. No. 4 Gilman 2, Georgetown Prep 1: Cotter Brown and Chris Walsch each scored to lead the visiting Greyhounds (4-0) over the Little Hoyas. Calvert Hall 1, C. Milton Wright 0: Brad McKim scored the game-winner 20 minutes into the second half for the Cardinals (3-0) at the Bel Air tournament.

Fifty years ago this morning, a crowded troop ship -- a once elegant Chesapeake Bay steamer that had become a "rust bucket" in the words of some who knew it -- was torpedoed and sank in the North Atlantic, taking the lives of 672 of the 902 men aboard.They are not forgotten.Four who were lost in icy waters between Newfoundland and Greenland were Army chaplains -- a Jew, a Roman Catholic and two Protestants -- who gave their life jackets to survivors. The religious faith and self-sacrifice of these four clergymen have become legendary, and because of them the drama of the sinking of the Dorchester lives on in annual commemorations here and across the country.

In eastern Pennsylvania, about 20 miles west of Philadelphia, lies Valley Forge, a potent symbol of America's struggle for independence. Here amid the rolling hills was the site of the Continental Army's 1777-1778 winter camp, during the third year of the American Revolution. Valley Forge was no conventional battlefield. America's enemies there were hunger, cold and disease, and they attacked relentlessly from December into the following spring. "The whole army is sick and crawling with vermin," complained an officer in March 1778.

COLLEGE PARK -- Maryland officially claimed 15 blue chip high school players when the NCAA's national signing period began today.The group, headed by Randallstown High running back Larry Washington, appears to be Maryland's strongest class of recruits in years. Recruiting gurus rate it among the top 20 in the country.The signees include:* Running back Raphael Wall, 5-10, 185, Wilde Lake; fullback/tight end Ricky Budd, 6-2, 215, Fort Hill; quarterback John Kaleo, 6-0, 185, Montgomery College-Rockville; quarterback Scott Milanovich, 6-3, 190, Butler (Pa.)