Veterans

Two special fundraisers took place at the Port Deposit VFW Post 8185 last weekend. In the big hall was a "celebration of love and support" for the Kessler Family, featuring several bands, a silent auction, raffles, food and door prizes. The proceeds of that 12-hour fundraising marathon will benefit local wounded veteran, Jeffrey Kessler. Jeffrey will soon move into the home provided for him by Homes for Our Troops, but donations of materials plus private and corporate monetary funding is still necessary to make his home a reality.

To work for Fireworks Extravaganza, a job applicant needs a clean record and the ability to pass a Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives background check. That's one reason Wells Berni, a local representative of the New Jersey-based company and "lead shooter" for fireworks displays, likes to hear from people with military backgrounds when recruiting potential employees. "I've got to be very careful," Berni said. "The military, they do a lot of drug screenings and they have a lot of security checks.

Charles H. Latrobe III, a retired Koppers Co. executive who was a highly decorated World War II Navy night fighter pilot, died Feb. 16 of complications from pneumonia at Roland Park Place. He was 90. "He was a very private person who had the highest level of integrity possible and was intolerant of those who did not," said Joseph M. Coale III, a political adviser, Baltimore County preservationist and former head of Historic Annapolis. Born in Buffalo, N.Y., Charles Hazlehurst Latrobe III was 3 when he moved to a home on Ridgewood Road in Roland Park with his family in 1926.

William Nathaniel Tate, a retired concrete worker and Korean War combat veteran, died of heart disease Feb. 16 at Frederick Memorial Hospital. The former Park Heights resident was 83. Born in Baltimore and raised on Division Street, he attended Booker T. Washington Junior High School. As a young man, he played sandlot football and boxed at gyms in the Pennsylvania Avenue neighborhood. He served in the Army from 1951 to 1953, and was assigned to Korea and fought in an infantry unit.

SARASOTA, Fla. --In today's Baltimore Sun, I wrote about Orioles prospect Jonathan Schoop, who will leave the team this weekend to play for Netherlands in the World Baseball Classic. This is Schoop's first big league camp. Last year, he made some appearances in games as part of a group of players who came in from minor league camp. So this isn't entirely new to him. Orioles manager Buck Showalter has said this spring that one of the great advantages to having some of the younger prospects in camp is that they can observe firsthand how the veterans carry themselves.

Gov. Martin O'Malley's plan to make it easier for veterans and their spouses to work in Maryland received warm reviews Tuesday from lawmakers and the Defense Department, but nurses suggested it could leave patients in the hands of unqualified workers. Testifying on behalf of the Veterans Full Employment Act, Lt. Gov. Anthony Brown said easing the transition into the civilian workforce is part of a "sacred obligation" society has to veterans. A Department of Defense official praised the plan as among the most comprehensive in the nation, while Del. Susan W. Krebs, a Carroll County Republican, called it "probably one of the best bills we're going to pass this year.

Charles J. "Chuck" Valle Sr., a retired sales executive and World War II veteran, died Friday of heart failure at his home in Phoenix, Baltimore County. He was 91. The son of a stonemason and a homemaker, Charles J. "Chuck" Valle Sr. was born in Rochester, N.Y., and moved with his family in 1924 to Federal Hill. Mr. Valle was a 1940 graduate of Southern High School, where he was an outstanding football and basketball player. Mr. Valle enlisted in the Marine Corps in 1941 and served aboard the aircraft carrier USS San Jacinto as a member of a gunnery crew from 1943 to 1945.

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.

When bad luck struck, John Mann was all but certain that he'd have to abandon his dreams. In 2005, Mann was a 28-year-old film school graduate who was just starting to make inroads in the difficult East Coast television industry. He hoped to one day move to Los Angeles and direct movies. And then, his wife fell ill while she was pregnant with their son. "Even though things had been starting to go our way, we were getting paid almost nothing," says Mann, 35, of Crownsville. "It really became a situation where we needed really good health insurance and we needed it right now. A choice had to be made, so I joined the Army.

John R. Duffy, a retired Baltimore police officer and Navy veteran who witnessed the Japanese surrender that ended World War II, died Wednesday of a heart attack at Ivy Hall nursing home in Middle River. The longtime Perry Hall resident was 87. The son of a Baltimore police officer and a homemaker, John Robert Duffy was born in Baltimore and raised on Linwood Avenue near Patterson Park. After graduating in 1944 from Patterson High School, Mr. Duffy entered the Navy. He was assigned to the battleship USS Missouri, where he was a gunner's mate and coxswain.