In this day and age, newspapers rarely print fiction. Of course, there is the occasional magical story written by a third grade class that appears every once a week in the Arts and Entertainment section of the paper, but for the most part, fictional stories of real substance are not published in newspapers anymore. This was not the case in the 1800's. Appearing in The Valley Star each week was...
After a Vietnamese rifle severed his spinal cord, Ron Kovic bounced around Vietnam field hospitals and eventually landed in a Veterans Affairs (VA) hospital in New York. Kovic found himself being treated in unbearable conditions by nurses and doctors who were often being overworked and unsupported. Kovic laid in his own filth at times while hospital staff could not make it to him to clean up his...
The Vietnam War was one of the most traumatic events in postwar American history. At its peak, the United States had 543,400 soldiers stationed in Vietnam and as a whole, the United States sent over three million soldiers to Vietnam. One of these veterans of the Vietnam War was Bill Christofferson, who was a combat correspondent who returned from active duty in 1968. However, like many other Vietnam...
On March 15th, 1968, teachers and other members of the Alabama Education Association waited to hear George Wallace speak on the behalf of his wife at the annual AEA convention. Lurleen Wallace had been elected governor of the state a year before, and could not make it to the event. “As you know, she is quite sick,” the former governor told the crowd according to the Birmingham Herold Post....
At approximately 7:30 a.m. on the morning of Saturday March 16, 1968, the officers and enlisted men of Charlie Company of the 1st Battalion, 20th Infantry Regiment, 11th Brigade of the 23rd Infantry Division landed by helicopter directly outside the village of My Lai. Private First Class Herbert L. Carter witnessed the unjustifiable and immoral events...
On November 20, 1969 a Cleveland newspaper, the Plain Dealer published an account of the massacre at My Lai by combat photographer Ronald L. Haeberle. The My Lai massacre occurred twenty months earlier on March 16, 1968 and was carried out by C Company, 1st Battalion, 20th Infantry Regiment, 11th Light Infantry Brigade. Haeberle gave a detailed account from...
As president of the United States, John F. Kennedy exuded airs of confidence, courage and strength to the American public. At his inauguration ceremony on a frigid January day, Kennedy appeared resilient as he stood in front of the large crowd without a jacket, hat or gloves. His capability was rarely questioned throughout his years in office, but behind the healthy image he portrayed was a lifelong...
For Sergeant Den Cook of the United States Air Force Security Forces, the Tet offensive was the defining moment of his overseas service. The assault began with rockets striking the Tan Son Nhut Air Base, as “thousands of tracers told [Cook] just how many VC and NVA were kicking at our door.” Cook heard over the radio that positions throughout the perimeter were being overrun shortly before the...
In South Africa, the walls of apartheid were about to be transcended by the loss of a young “cape colored” in January 1968. Young Clive Haupt was a “colored” of South Africa who died at the age of 24; while his death was tragic; it had also achieved something, though it was small. While Clive was dead, his heart was to be given to Dr. Phillip Blaiberg, a white South African man. Though this...
The Atlanta Life Insurance Company was located on 539 W. Church St. in Orlando, Florida. This location was a branch office to the larger Atlanta Life Company, which was located in Atlanta, Georgia on 148 Auburn Ave. The Atlanta Life Insurance Company advertised maximum insurance on risk for $50,000, and offered industrial, health, accident, and life policies. Alonzo Franklin Herndon, an African...