War Veterans

IRVINE, Calif. -- A number of medical professionals, who say they have become ill while treating Persian Gulf war veterans, claim the mysterious disease afflicting tens of thousands of soldiers is contagious and could pose a public health threat.Doctors, nurses and laboratory researchers, as well as others who come in casual contact with gulf war veterans, say they have contracted the same symptoms -- fatigue, fever, aches, rashes and respiratory problems -- that are generally associated with "gulf war syndrome."

A Jewish veterans group is looking for a more accessible and visible site for a World War I monument, once lost to those who would revere it.The 3-foot-high granite memorial stands in a grove of pine trees off Route 140 near Interstate 795 and adjacent to a popular golf driving range.If not for a caretaker clearing brush and trees on the 22-acre property, the stone might have remained lost."I won't say I discovered it, but I uncovered it," said Don Heffner. "I just opened up the yard and it was there."

Nearly 100 people commemorated Veterans Day at the Longwell Armory in Westminster yesterday, many of them wearing reminders of their sacrifice.They saluted the flag in respectful silence as a Marine honor guard moved up the aisle. Two young soldiers followed the guard. One carried a red, white and blue wreath; the other held the black flag symbol of America's POWs and MIAs.Aging men and women recited the Pledge of Allegiance in loud voices and joined hands to sing "God Bless America."Russell Shaffer, 79, had pinned a "Pray for America" button on his white and purple cap -- a hat printed with "Commander of the Military Order of the Purple Heart."

WASHINGTON -- Military logs for an eight-day period in which thousands of U.S. troops might have been exposed to nerve gas and other Iraqi chemical weapons shortly after the Persian Gulf war in 1991 appear to have been removed or lost and cannot be located despite an exhaustive search, Pentagon officials said yesterday.There are several mysterious gaps in the otherwise meticulous combat logs. The gaps include the period in early March 1991 in which American combat engineers blew up the sprawling Kamisiyah ammunition depot in southern Iraq, an event that might have exposed thousands of U.S. troops to nerve gas.Because the portions made public so far show that American commanders received and disregarded several reports of chemical detection during the war, the logs are considered vital evidence by ailing gulf war veterans who believe that their health was damaged by exposure to Iraqi chemical or biological weapons.

WASHINGTON -- As evidence mounts that more Persian Gulf war troops might have been exposed to chemical weapons than earlier believed, scientists say there still is little evidence that such exposure could result in some of the long-term illnesses reported by veterans and collectively known as gulf war syndrome.But researchers said that the lack of a link between low-level exposures to chemical agents, such as nerve gases or blistering chemicals, and later chronic illnesses could result from a lack of study.

WASHINGTON -- The Pentagon has acknowledged in a new report that chemical weapons were detected as many as seven times in the first week of the 1991 Persian Gulf war near staging areas in northern Saudi Arabia, where tens of thousands of U.S. troops were housed.While insisting that it had no conclusive evidence that U.S. soldiers were ever exposed to Iraqi chemical weapons, the Defense Department said in the report that it was "further exploring the plausibility" that small amounts of chemical agents passed over troops after U.S. bombers destroyed Iraqi arms depots and factories north of staging areas near the Saudi city of Hafr al-Batin.

WASHINGTON -- The Pentagon announced yesterday a sweeping expansion of its investigation into whether U.S. soldiers were exposed to Iraqi chemical weapons in the 1991 Persian Gulf war and suggested that it would resist calls to turn over the inquiry to outside investigators.The announcement came after a draft report of a White House panel described the Pentagon's investigation as "superficial" and recommended that the inquiry be taken away from the Defense Department and given to independent investigators.

The records U.S. federal agencies relied upon to conclude that Persian Gulf war veterans are no sicker than the general population excluded thousands of veterans treated for illnesses by doctors at federal clinics and by private doctors paid by the government.The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs' statistics also do not include other veterans who chose to go to private hospitals or doctors and pay for their own medical care.In an interview last week, Dr. Frances M. Murphy, who is responsible for the Veterans Affairs Department's program to treat gulf war veterans, said the diagnoses of veterans who were treated by clinics and private doctors, rather than at VA hospitals, were left out of the department's computer databases.

WASHINGTON -- After years of Pentagon denials, a group of veterans of the Persian Gulf war is offering the first compelling evidence that U.S. troops were exposed to Iraqi chemical weapons. The veterans say that nerve gas and other chemical agents have begun to ravage their bodies.The soldiers and former soldiers were members of the Army's 37th Engineer Battalion. Unlike thousands of other Americans who have complained that they suffer from the ailments collectively described as gulf war syndrome, the men of the 37th can pinpoint the time and place that they believe they were exposed to chemical weapons: 2: 05 p.m. March 4, 1991, when the battalion blew up 33 Iraqi bunkers in the southern Iraqi desert.

LEBANON, Pa. -- Two new government studies show for the first time that veterans of the 1991 Persian Gulf war are far more likely to suffer from a variety of serious health problems than troops who did not serve in the war, a finding that appears to vindicate ailing veterans who have said that their service in the gulf has cost them their health.The studies -- one conducted by the national Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the other by the Navy -- do not resolve the mystery of what is making most of the veterans ill.But they clearly show that gulf war veterans are having health problems in unusual numbers and that their illnesses can be disabling, even though they do not necessarily result in hospital admissions or death.

Several weeks ago, I had the pleasure of spending a pleasant Sunday morning sharing breakfast and talking with members of the Paul D. Savanuck-Shaarei Zion Memorial Post 888 of the Jewish War Veterans of the United States. Most of them were World War II and Korean War veterans, and I found them to be a sprightly, engaging and informed group. In passing, Chester Silverman, the post commander, asked if I wouldn't like to hear the story behind the name of their post and of the young Pikesville soldier whose memory it preserves.

In Baltimore and across the nation, officials are bracing for new waves of war veterans to return home - amid worries that federal and state budget cuts will threaten programs that offer a lifeline for those facing health and career problems. Demand for jobs and mental health services among veterans is swelling as public and nonprofit organizations struggle to build and maintain a support network to address issues that might not emerge for months or even years. More than 1.8 million Americans have served in Iraq and Afghanistan, creating a need for veterans' services not seen since the World War II generation came home six decades ago. There are 480,000 veterans in Maryland, and their ranks are growing as troops return from the two battlegrounds.

American presence in Iraq is more dangerous to world peace than nuclear threats from North Korea or Iran, U.S. Rep. John P. Murtha, a Pennsylvania Democrat, said yesterday to a crowd of more than 200 in North Miami. Murtha was the guest speaker at a town hall meeting organized by U.S. Rep. Kendrick B. Meek, a Florida Democrat, at Florida International University's Biscayne Bay campus. Meek's mother, former U.S. Rep. Carrie Meek, was also on the panel. War veterans, local mayors, university students and faculty packed the Mary Ann Wolfe Theatre to listen to the three panelists discuss the war in Iraq for an hour.

Carroll Community College will hold the ninth annual "Maryland and the Civil War: A Regional Perspective" conference from 9:15 a.m. to 3 p.m. March 25 at the 1601 Washington Road campus. Doors will open at 8:30 a.m. for the event that features speakers, displays and music commemorating the Civil War. The conference is sponsored by the college, the Historical Society of Carroll County and the Catoctin Center for Regional Studies. Keynote speaker Glenn Williams will open the day with a presentation on "Despot's Heel," about Maryland's state anthem and the circumstance that inspired the song.

Abraham "Al" Morrison, a World War II artilleryman who participated in the D-day invasion of France, helped liberate the Buchenwald concentration camp and was active with the Jewish War Veterans, died of cancer Monday at Gilchrist Center for Hospice Care. The longtime Lochearn resident was 83. Born in Baltimore and raised on Collington Avenue, Mr. Morrison cut short his public school education to help support his family. After enlisting in the Army in 1940, he trained as a paratrooper.

WASHINGTON -- Iraq war veterans and families of soldiers who were killed in action gathered at the National Mall yesterday in a small but boisterous display of support for American troops and the war, hoping to use their voices, if not their numbers, to counter a weekend of anti-war protests in the capital. Grieving but proud parents and wives joined wounded veterans on a stage within blocks of the U.S. Capitol to applaud President Bush and the 2 1/2 -year-old military mission in Iraq.

It wouldn't quite be the Fourth of July without a good parade, and hundreds of people lined the downtown streets of Towson yesterday for that area's annual celebration. The customary gathering of colorful marching bands, waving politicians in fancy cars, shiny red fire trucks and war veterans in their military uniforms sparked a range of emotions from watchers. The youngsters thought it was fun, but many of the adults knew it was much more. "It was a lot of fun because I got to be in it and pass out candy and see people that I know watching us," said Danielle Esenwine, 11, of Lutherville, whose Girl Scout troop was part of the parade.

MANCHESTER, N.H. - As Sen. John Kerry sought to shore up support for the victory that polls show he is poised to seize here, he leapt at the chance yesterday to defend himself against the charge Republicans are increasingly lobbing at him: that he's a classic Massachusetts liberal out of step with the rest of the nation. "If the worst thing they can say about me is that I'm, quote, a liberal, or something, let's go - bring it on," Kerry told an undecided voter who wondered aloud how the senator would overcome Republican accusations that he stands even further to the left than Edward M. Kennedy, the liberal icon who is his state's senior senator.

On July 27, 1953, the U.S., North Korea and China signed an armistice to end the Korean War. This weekend, the 50th anniversary of the war's end, there will be various commemorative events in Washington and Virginia. Here are some of them: A performance by the Korean American Cultural Foundation Dance Troupe will take place at 5 p.m. tomorrow at Fairfax High School, 3500 Old Lee Highway, Fairfax, Va. There will be a wreath-laying and memorial ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknowns at 10 a.m. Saturday at Arlington National Cemetery, across the Memorial Bridge in Arlington, Va. A National Salute to Korean War Veterans will be held at 4:30 p.m. Saturday at the MCI Center, 601 F St. N.W., Washington.

WASHINGTON - Standing close together for solidarity - and warmth - tens of thousands of protesters braved freezing weather yesterday to rally against a war with Iraq, making gloved peace signs and waving banners that read "Don't Trade Lives for Oil." The rally outside the Capitol was one of many demonstrations at home and abroad against possible U.S. military strikes on Iraq. More protests in San Francisco and at least 10 other U.S. cities - and rallies in 25 other countries, including Germany, Bahrain and Japan - targeted the Bush administration and its military buildup in the Persian Gulf.