“May 18, 2015 | by Richard Sisk

The remains of six Marines and two Nepalese soldiers who died in the May 12 crash of their helicopter while on an earthquake relief mission in the Himalayas have been recovered and identified.

Marine Lt. Gen. John Wissler thanked U.S. and Nepalese search and recovery teams that found the charred wreckage of the Marine UH-1Y Huey helicopter in dense forest at an elevation of more than 11,000 feet and recovered the remains despite mountain storms and temperatures below freezing.

“You never hesitated in the joint effort to bring our brothers home. Everyone united — the soldiers hiking through hazardous terrain, the pilots flying in uncertain weather conditions and the Nepalese special forces standing watch over our Marines on a mountainside at night,” Wissler said.

“We honor our fallen comrades through our unselfish support to each other in this time of grief,” said Wissler, commander of the 3rd Marine Expeditionary Force and of Joint Task Force 505 which arrived in Nepal on April 29 following the 7.8 magnitude earthquake that killed more than 8,000…”

Forrás : http://www.military.com/daily-news/2015/05/18/six-marine-helicopter-crash-victims-in-nepal-identified.html?ESRC=marine.nl

“Three years after the Civil War ended, on May 5, 1868, the head of an organization of Union veterans — the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) — established Decoration Day as a time for the nation to decorate the graves of the war dead with flowers. Maj. Gen. John A. Logan declared that Decoration Day should be observed on May 30. It is believed that date was chosen because flowers would be in bloom all over the country.

The first large observance was held that year at Arlington National Cemetery, across the Potomac River from Washington, D.C…”

Forrás : http://www.military.com/memorial-day?ESRC=marine.nl

I want to wish everyone a Happy Armed Forces Day – thanks to all for your service.

That time she was a child, at an air show, and a Marine recruiter promised a T-shirt if she could hang for a minute from a pull-up bar.

She won – and kept hanging.

Then, that time she was in high school, and there weren’t enough girls for a team, so she played water polo with the boys.

And she kept playing.

And in March, that time, at age 28, she became the first woman to fly with the Navy‘s elite Blue Angels. She broke a gender barrier at 370 mph, in the cockpit of a C-130 Hercules named “Fat Albert.”

“I can keep up with the boys,” she said, “even fly it better.”

Fans named her: “Katie the Riveter,” “Captain Katie,” even today’s Amelia Earhart.

Her name is Katie Higgins, Marine Corps captain. Her parents, Bill and Jan Johnson, live in Severna Park….”

Forrás : http://www.military.com/daily-news/2015/05/07/marine-corps-captain-becomes-first-woman-to-fly-with-blue-angels.html?ESRC=marine.nl